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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9187190" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/Juvso1v.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Chapter 2: Classes & FactionsNow that we covered the races, we’re moving on to the kinds of adventurers one can be and iconic organizations PCs can join. Each class has at least one new archetype.Barbarians tend to be common to the rural and nomadic peoples of Ansalon. The Path of the Dragon Totem is our new archetype, of those who learned to tap into the power of dragons via primal sorcery or some other special knowledge. At 3rd level they can choose poison or one of the elemental damage types to be resistant to whenever they begin a rage, deal additional damage with melee weapons of that same type when raging, at 6th level grow draconic scales when raging which grants them temporary hit points for the rest of their rage, at 10th level can emit a 30 foot aura that is similar to a dragon’s frightful presence and imposes that condition on enemies until the rage ends on a failed Wisdom save, and at 14th level can spend an action to breathe a 15 foot cone of damaging energy dealing 4d6 damage once per rage.Thoughts: As the associated damage type can be chosen each time the barbarian rages and isn’t locked in, this makes the Path of the Dragon Totem quite versatile when the party has foreknowledge of what kinds of monsters they’ll be fighting. Temporary hit points are always a nice touch, and the AoE fear aura can be worth trading in two attacks for given its long duration. The capstone breath weapon is rather underwhelming given its relatively low damage output and small AoE. The low points of this subclass are that virtually every feature requires or is active only during a rage, has virtually no utility features, and its defensive features pale in comparison to existing subclasses such as the Ancestral Guardian or the Bear Totem’s nigh-universal damage resistance. For those reasons it doesn’t rate that high.Bards can be found throughout Ansalon, although traditionally they received formal schooling in the capital of Northern Ergoth. In the City of Palanthas, a relatively new bardic College of Psalmistry was founded, teaching how to channel the divine power of particular deities through performances. The subclass gains particular bonus spells from the Cleric spell list depending on the alignment of their patron deity, with Good ones granting healing and defensive magic, Evil ones granting debuffs, and Neutral ones granting mostly divination. At 3rd level the subclass grants proficiency with martial weapons and medium armor, allows allies with your Bardic Inspiration Dice to roll it and add it to the result of any healing spells they cast, and can spend Bardic Inspiration as a bonus action to add bonus radiant damage to a weapon attack that increases with level (2d6 starting out up to 8d6 at 15th level). At 6th level they learn one of two special chants which can be used a number of times per long rest equal to their proficiency bonus: Bane which is a selective AoE charm that can last for 1 minute and a save is allowed every round, or Blessing which is a selective AoE that grants temporary hit points equal to double the Bard’s Charisma modifier and advantage vs the charmed condition for one minute (those already charmed can spend a reaction to reroll a saving throw with advantage). Finally, at 14th level, the bard emits light for the duration of the 6th level song, and hostile foes within the light’s radius who fail a Charisma save suffer disadvantage on attack rolls and saves originating from the bard.Thoughts: This bard is surprisingly martial, and the smite-like ability using Bardic Inspiration is begging to be combined with Hexblade and Paladin multiclassing builds. It doesn’t get Extra Attack, so its DPS potential is rather limited and won’t kick in until nearly Tier 3 if one opts for multiclassing. The Song of Blessing looks superior to the oddly-named Bane, as a default Bard can already do something similar via Hypnotic Pattern. The Song also doesn’t specify an action type to activate it, so I presume it is a free action, which may make it a rather nice buff. Overall, I feel that this is an average subclass; it’s trying too hard to be martial which other subclasses can do better, and the songs are a bit too charm condition-specific (in inflicting or resisting) than subclasses with broader arrays.Clerics are either representatives of the true gods of Krynn, or post-Chaos War can also include mystics who derive their abilities from the Power of the Heart which is a form of magic derived from life itself. We have two new domains, Adjudication and Freedom.Clerics with the Adjudication domain are tasked with ferreting out spies and heretics within their religious orders, basically serving as inquisitors. They were most common in Istar during the Kingpriest’s reign, and among the Dragonarmies and Knights of Neraka in later eras who both served Takhisis. Their domain spells are a mixture of debuffs and divinations, such as Command, Hold Person, Detect Thoughts, and Locate Creature. Once per short or long rest as their 1st level feature, they can touch a willing creature to grant them advantage on Intimidation checks for an hour. Their Channel Divinity option is an AoE that lasts for one minute and forces targets who fail a Charisma save to be unable to speak a deliberate lie within the area. At 6th level they add double their proficiency bonus on Insight and Intimidation, at 8th and 14th levels can choose to deal bonus cold, fire, or lightning damage (chosen each time) on their weapon attacks, and at 17th level they can speak encouraging words to allies granting them advantage on saves to avoid the charmed and frightened conditions for 1 minute and those already affected can spend a reaction to make a new saving throw with advantage. This last feature costs an action but can be used an unlimited number of times.The Freedom domain originates from Qualinesti elves who sought to break off from the Silvanesti during the Kinslayer Wars, and ever since it could be found among other cultures and faiths who seek promote justice and oppose tyranny (non-evil) or seek to bring about chaos from societal discord (evil). Their bonus spells heavily specialize in movement-related features such as Knock, Fly, and Freedom of Movement, and their 1st level feature grants them the Resistance cantrip and proficiency in Performance and Persuasion. Their Channel Divinity is an AoE that grants immunity to the charmed and frightened conditions for 1 minute and those already charmed or frightened can do that “spend reaction to reroll” thing that’s starting to be a recurring element lately. At 6th level the Cleric can spend a reaction whenever they’d roll a Wisdom save against a spell to instead have another creature within 30 feet roll a save and suffer its effects should they fail, and this feature’s uses per long rest are based off of proficiency bonus. At 8th and 14th level they deal bonus psychic damage on weapon attacks, and at 17th level the cleric is immune to the charmed and frightened conditions as well as magical sleep.Thoughts: First off, the Adjudication domain’s features are more suited towards intrigue-heavy games and ones where the Social pillar is heavily emphasized. The Channel Divinity is basically a Zone of Truth but with a shorter duration, so it gets points off for that. The 17th level feature greatly reduces the potency of most mind-affecting attacks in the game, and making it effectively infinite-use can lead to Guidance-like spam. But that kicks in too late for most campaigns, leaving us with rather lackluster abilities.As for the Freedom domain, the Channel Divinity is a pretty good feature to pull out for a variety of enemy types, provided that the party is aware of said foes’ mind-affecting nature. The 6th level shifting of a hostile spell to another creature is really good, given that Wisdom is one of the three most common saving throws. Like Adjudication, the immunities at 17th level are nice but kick in too late to matter for most campaigns. This looks to be a fine domain for the themes it espouses.Druids are similar to Clerics in receiving their magic either from an appropriate nature god or the Power of the Heart. The Circle of Spring Dawning is our new subclass, representing druids who take their role as nature’s protectors seriously and form mystic bonds with beasts in order to preserve their natural habitat. Their initial features include gaining a beast companion which more or less uses the rules for a Beastmaster Ranger but is also immune to the charmed condition, gets a 1 mile telepathic bond, and if the beast dies then the Druid is stunned for 1 round unless they succeed on a Constitution save. The subclass gets bonus spells and can recover expended spell slots on a short like Circle of the Land, with their bonus spells mostly related to summoning such as Conjure Animals, Faithful Hound, and Insect Plague. At 6th level they and their beast companion gain Pack Tactics while wildshaped, their natural weapons are treated as magical also while the druid is wildshaped, by 10th level the druid can choose to have self-targeting spells also affect their beast companion and touch spells can increase up to 100 feet for targeting said companion, and by 14th level the beast companion can spend a reaction to reduce the damage of an attack by half, and finally the druid and the companion crit on a 19 to 20 whenever the druid’s in wild shape.Thoughts: This Circle is liberally borrowing from a variety of subclasses rather than committing to a specialized gimmick, and the majority of its features aren’t truly new in that regard. Its spells, particularly Conjure Animals, are very strong options but have the downside of the vast majority requiring concentration. While the ability to buff one’s beast companion when wildshaping and with shared spells is nice,  I do find it curious that they went with the default “Beastmaster” option rather than the Primal Companion that was released in Tasha’s which are more or less an improvement. Then again, as the Druid already has a bunch of strong features, maybe this was intentional. Personally speaking the idea of a druid getting a Beastmaster-style animal companion would likely begin to feel superfluous when they can end up summoning more powerful creatures like with Summon Elemental from Tasha’s. Given that said creatures don’t require bonus action expenditure to act in battle, this only highlights the limitations of what should be your primary subclass feature.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/qzOFmjC.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Fighters are common in every culture of Ansalon, for it seems that every era of Krynn’s history has at least one war of world-defining proportions. Due to their commonality we have two subclasses.The Knight of Solamnia is our first, and if using the optional Faction rules then a Fighter needs at least 1 Renown with said organization in order to take the subclass. The subclass is split into three orders which determine what special abilities are learned. A Knight who advances in rank to a new Order has the option of exchanging a feature from any previous orders they’ve been a part of whenever they reach a level where they’d gain a new subclass feature. At 3rd level they gain either the Champion-style half proficiency bonus on physical skills (Crown), advantage on saving throws vs the charmed and frightened conditions (Sword), or once per short or long rest can spend a reaction to have a number of allies equal to their Charisma modifier reroll a failed saving throw (Rose). At 7th level they can either make an additional attack on a different adjacent target within reach/range as a bonus action whenever they attack (Crown), learn two cleric cantrips and two spells of 2nd level or lower from the Cleric list they can cast once per long rest each and have one of their weapons marked to act as a spellcasting focus for these spells (Sword), or whenever they take the attack action can spend a reaction to have an ally that can see or hear them move up to half their speed and avoid opportunity attacks (Rose). At 10th level they can deal an additional 1d6 to 1d10 damage on a weapon attack once per turn a number of times per short rest equal to their Strength modifier (Crown, damage die grows with level), gain proficiency in Insight and Persuasion skills and can heal an ally they can see for 4d4 + Wisdom modifier hit points as an action a number of times per long rest equal to proficiency bonus (Sword), or grant allies advantage on all attacks made against an enemy they’re adjacent to while not incapacitated (Rose). At 15th level they can either make one melee attack against each creature within 5 feet whenever they take the attack action (Crown), learn two more cleric cantrips and two spells of 4th level or lower (Sword), or whenever an ally who can see or hear them drops to 0 hit points can drop to 1 hit point instead a number of times per long rest equal to their proficiency bonus (Rose). At 18th level any foe they crit is knocked prone and stunned until the end of their turn if they fail a Dexterity save (Crown), can emit a damaging selective AoE up to 30 feet whenever they fail to maintain concentration on a cleric spell (Sword), or whenever they use an action surge can choose a creature within 60 feet to spend their reaction and gain the use of an action as well (Rose).Windrider is our other Fighter archetype, an elite military order that exists among the Qualinesti, Silvanesti, and Kagonesti elves. They use magic to form a mystic bond with a flying creature such as a griffon, giant eagle, or the like. At 3rd level they get a Bonded Companion who uses the Tasha’s consolidated rules for NPC companions/pets, whose special actions include flyby where a target struck by its melee action cannot take reactions until the start of its next turn, and Arcane Bond where the Windrider adds their proficiency bonus to any ability check or saving throw the bonded companion makes. At 7th level and 10th level the companion’s size category and natural weapon damage die grows by 1 and 1d6 damage respectively. They can be used as a mount by a rider of the same or smaller size category, but it can only use its flying speed while mounted at 10th level (at which point it’s Large). At 15th level the Windrider can knock an enemy they strike prone on a failed Strength save once per turn and provided they move at least 20 feet in a straight line. At 18th level the Windrider can spend their reaction whenever their companion takes damage to reduce the damage by 3d6 points, and should they or their mount hit a target with an attack before the end of their next turn can deal that amount of damage (same damage type) to the struck target.Thoughts: First off, I’m not exactly fond of the idea of locking the Knights of Solamnia not just behind a specific class, but a specific subclass as well. While this used to be the cast for much of Dragonlance’s history, during 3rd Edition they were turned into a Prestige Class and in the later eras the otherwise punishing prerequisites to enter were softened. 5th Edition, like 3rd, prizes itself on having a wide variety of player options, and I think that many Fighter (or even Paladin and some Cleric) subclasses can fit the Knight’s concept. As for the subclass itself, its abilities are practically begging to be mixed and matched, but as the hierarchical ascension is more or less subject to the whims of the plot and Renown system, its customizability is a bit limited in that regard. The Order of the Crown abilities are highly physical, and in comparison to Sword and Rose are rather lackluster. The bulk of Sword’s features are a poor man’s cleric, and for those reasons aren’t that exciting and would be better emulated as a Cleric with an appropriately martial domain or multiclassing. The Rose abilities are perhaps the most powerful in that they not only encourage the Fighter to be a team player, the abilities that they can activate will be useful at just about any level. Rerolling failed saves, free movement avoiding opportunity attacks, pseudo-Pack Tactics that also apply to ranged allies, and the like are good for just about any party setup.As for the Windrider, the kinds of things you’d want to use it for (FLYING MOUNT) don’t really kick in until 10th level, as even if you’re Small size the text explicitly mentions that it can’t use its flying speed while mounted until that level. Its 15th and 18th level features are rather unimpressive, and in comparison to the Cavelier (the official “mounted fighter” subclass) it doesn’t grant as many useful features such as that subclass’ Unwavering Mark or Warding Maneuver.Monks are martial devotees to the gods, most often Majere but sometimes other deities as well who encourage ascetic lifestyles, physical prowess, or appropriate subclasses such as Sirrion and Chislev for Way of the Four Elements. The Way of the Mantis is our new subclass, representing devotees of Majere who are inspired by the serenity of insects. Their ways were largely forgotten after the Cataclysm, but a revival of their styles and doctrines has occurred from rebuilding ancient ruins containing their teachings.The book states that the initial subclass features are gained at 1st level rather than 3rd, but as said features mention 1st and 2nd level class features rather than entirely new ones it may be intentional rather than a misprint. They gain the Open Hand’s forced pushed movement when hitting a target with flurry of blows once per turn and deals 1d8 bonus damage and the prone condition, can make an unarmed strike as a reaction when a creature misses them while Patient Defense is active, and gain a flying speed equal to their walking speed when using Step of the Wind. At 6th level targets have disadvantage on saves made against the monk’s Stunning Fist and they add their Wisdom modifier to the damage of unarmed strikes and monk weapons on top of their usual Strength/Dexterity modifier, at 11th level they can spend 6 ki points to summon a giant mantis for 1 minute per long rest, and at 17th level can cast Insect Plague by spending 7 ki points.The giant mantis is another new creature in this book. It shares a lot of traits with a Giant Scorpion but has no blindsight, a higher passive perception, and its multiattack are two claws and a bite; the latter of which deals acid damage instead of poison damage on a failed Constitution save.Thoughts: The Way of the Mantis is quite front-loaded in granting its subclass features right off the bat rather than at 3rd level. The 6th level features are perhaps the most broadly useful, making an already strong Stunning Fist more likely to work and as Monks have high Wisdom, adding that score along with Strength or Dexterity to damage really makes them strong in the glass cannon department. The 11th and 17th level features feel a bit lackluster at the levels at which they’re gained, as while they certainly aren’t bad to have, most spellcasters can already do such things and much more by these levels.Paladins are most common as the militant wings of the gods’ various holy orders, but some dedicate themselves to knighthoods. Like clerics and druids, they gain their abilities either from the gods or the Power of the Heart. The Oath of the Clerist is our new subclass, originating among the Knights of the Sword who seek to care for and defend the defenseless. Their tenets mostly involve acts of selflessness, such as charitable giving to the needy and providing healing and protection to the suffering.Their oath spells are a versatile mixture, having healing spells such as Cure Wounds and Aura of Vitality, defensive features such as Shield of Faith and Death Ward, and some utility ones such as Enhance Ability and Pass Without Trace. Their two Channel Divinity options include spending 15 points of Lay on Hands to remove a level of exhaustion, or healing 3d4 + Paladin level in hit points to all friendly creatures within 10 feet. At 7th level their aura grants themselves and friendly creatures immunity to the frightened condition, at 15th level they can spend a reaction to use Lay on Hands on themselves whenever they’re reduced to 0 hit points, and at 20th level their ultimate form covers them in a shroud of comforting light. Friendly creatures in the aura of light gain a lot of temporary hit points, add one additional damage die to any attack of the paladin’s that hits its target, is immune to the blinded and deafened conditions, the light radius cancels the effects of ongoing silence spells in which it overlaps, and as an action can present their holy symbol that can turn undead who fail a saving throw.Thoughts: The Oath’s tenets are quite close to the Oaths of Ancients and Devotion. As for the bonus spells, once again a lot of them are concentration but that’s a drawback of the Paladin class in general. Being able to remove levels of exhaustion via Lay on Hands is a pretty nifty feature, albeit it also costs a pricey Channel Divinity. Immunity to the frightened condition is a useful one, and being able to Lay on Hands on oneself as a reaction really increases the class’ staying power in battle. The closest comparison is Ancient’s Undying Sentinel, which is once per long rest and drops to 1 hit instead, whereas Clerist can effectively be used multiple times and go beyond 1 hit point via Lay on Hands. I’m not exactly feeling the 20th level capstone ability, as some of its features like turning undead or countering silence are quite situational. Compare this to Vengeance’s flying speed and AoE frighten, Watchers’ Truesight and advantage on attacks to a wide variety of creature types, or Devotion’s hit point regeneration and better spellcasting capabilities, the Clerist feels rather lackluster. But overall, I’d say that the Clerist is a good subclass.Rangers are universally common in all cultures of Ansalon, for environmental adaptation is a useful skill for any people. The Legion Scout is our new subclass, representing specialist operatives for the Legion of Steel. Several subclass features make reference to a Region Assignment, which represents an area of operations in which they are active. At 3rd level they gain one bonus language common to their region, can use the benefits of Natural Explorer in an urban environment, and gain an additional Favored Enemy that must be a faction opposed to the Legion’s ideals rather than a creature type. They also learn additional spells as they level, mostly focused on divination and covert operations such as Message, Scrying, and Nondetection. At 7th level they gain proficiency in Deception, Disguise Kits, and add double their proficiency bonus while in their Region Assignment. At 11th level they gain a secure safe house whose specifics are determined by coming up with some details with the DM but includes at a minimum a secret room, secret escape route, and the Scout can cast Pass Without Trace a number of times per long rest equal to their Wisdom modifier. New safe houses can be acquired if the old one is compromised by spending 100 steel pieces and at least a week in their Region Assignment. At 15th level they can Disengage as a bonus action, and as long as they move at least 20 feet then attacks made against them by their Favored Enemies have disadvantage.Thoughts: The Legion Scout is overall a rather weak class. Region Assignment makes them most suitable in campaigns that stick to one region or area rather than a continent-trotting one, and the features they get are overall weak for their respective levels and tend to be things that Rogues can get at lower levels. The safe house is the kind of thing that is more suited towards a plot reward than a specific class feature.Split into two posts due to length.</blockquote>

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