Level Up (A5E) LU Archetypes / 5e Subclasses

[glaucolessa]

Hi, guys!

I'm so excited with my 5e campaign migrating to Level Up! I have a question, tho: some archetypes from LU seem to be rework or remakes of already existent subclasses in 5e. There are so many options, so I just decided to ask here: which ones are reworks and remakes (and from which of the subclasses?), and which ones are entirely new?

For example, Draconist (from Sorcerer) is a rework of Draconic Bloodline? It seems pretty similar, but the name is different, so maybe I should count as two different archetypes with flavor similarities?

I ask this because if there are archetypes remade to a better version, I want to suggest to my players the remade version, of course. I think a list with this information may help other players here in the forum, too.

Thanks a lot!

 

[VanguardHero]

Don't know many off the top of my head, but worth mentioning that Hexblade Warlock got absorbed into base Warlock through Pact of Blade. With the new Archetypes you can replicate the Curse as well but it's less central to the Class. It's one of the few I'd say absolutely avoid entirely because it's main draw becomes redundant.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Don't know many off the top of my head, but worth mentioning that Hexblade Warlock got absorbed into base Warlock through Pact of Blade. With the new Archetypes you can replicate the Curse as well but it's less central to the Class. It's one of the few I'd say absolutely avoid entirely because it's main draw becomes redundant.

The funny thing is, even with some part of one of its signature features being free with Pact of the Blade in A5e, O5e Hexblade looks like it's still not a bad option. It was just that much front-load overpowered that you can steal those features and it still works.

 

[VenerableBede]

A significant number of archetypes in A5e are essentially converted versions of the O5e archetypes in the PHB. Off the top of my head, there's the Healer cleric—replaces and improves Healing Domain O5e cleric—there's the Warpriest—replaces War Domain; druid has Skinchanger—replaces Circle of the moon; all of the warlock archetypes are conversions or improvements on O5e (Diabolist—Fiend, Spellsomething—Fey, Alienist—Great Old One); Green Knight Herald is just better Oath of the Ancients Paladin; even the Arcanist Wizard is almost every PH Wizard specialty rolled into one archetype. And, as VanguardHero mentioned, some of the classes effectively have O5e archetypes rolled into them now, with A5e warlock basically having everything the Hexblade has to offer if you pick the right Pact Boon and Invocations. Another example are combat maneuvers which, in a way, give the Battle Master fighter archetype to every martial class; classes with improved critical hits get the main feature of the Champion O5e fighter.

A5e advertised these books as being replacements for the O5e base trio of books (PHB, DMG, MM), and they stuck to that pretty closely. Only the completely reworked classes—like Adept—got really new archetypes, for the most part.

As an aside, I was initially disappointed when I found that so many A5e archetypes were replacements or improvements on the PHB O5e archetypes—I was expecting everything to be completely new and inventive. But, going through the campaign and the advertisements, we were never promised a completely new expansion on O5e, but a replacement core rulebook for O5e—hence the need for all the base content to be made "advanced" before moving on to entirely new territory.