Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9004082" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/FwyF9h4.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Smart Heroes are those who use Genius to enact Plans. They’re also the most wordy class and archetype, coming in at 22 pages where most other classes range from 8 to 13 pages. Unlike the other classes, Geniuses and their Archetypes are highly dependent on one particular feature: Plans are special abilities reflecting a Smart Hero’s area of expertise, which costs 1 Genius to trigger. There are Shared Plans which are universal no matter the archetype, but each Archetype comes with its own unique set of Plans. All Plans have enhanced features at later levels, usually every odd-numbered level or levels 1, 5, and 9. The number of Plans a Smart Hero knows is dependent on their level as well as their Intelligence modifier. Plans are also notable in that Genius points are only restored via a long rest, but at level 2 they can regain 1 Genius point after a short rest, but can only do this once per long rest. With a d6 Hit Die and a Defense Bonus of their Proficiency Bonus minus two, they are the squishiest class of Everyday Heroes. Smart Heroes are great skill monkeys, however; each archetype grants proficiency in 3 or 4 skills and Expertise in 1 or 2 of them.There are 7 Shared Plans, and tend to be broadly useful features, such as the Right Tool which gives the Smart Hero a number of pieces of equipment they happen to have on hand, or Know the Layout which has the GM reveal a number of facts related to an area such as the number of guards normally stationed or the location of all stairs and elevators in a building.The Engineer is an archetype specializing in hardware, from custom weapons and ammo to demolition charges. Their default ability lets them gain a robot companion which is akin to a familiar or animal companion in having its own stat block and actions with abilities that improve with level. Their Plans include such things as an explosive AoE Demolish that can deal damage and do things like reduce movement during a chase as well as create new difficult terrain and cover; Customize and My Robot Can Do That apply temporary positive boosts or new benefits to a weapon or robot companion respectively; or Emergency Jetpack, which grants a short-term fly speed to themselves and/or allies.The Hacker is the software to the Engineer’s hardware, a master manipulator of the unseen digital realm suffusing the modern world. Their default ability renders it impossible for others to trace their real life details, and they can use a bonus action to rig a cell phone to make a loud noise, imposing the Distracted condition* on a target. Their Plans include such abilities as Brick It, which shuts down and damages computer-controlled devices, vehicles, and mechanical enemies with a table of effects dependent on the target and hacker level; Cha-Ching treats their Wealth bonus as higher due to using fake and stolen credit accounts; I’m In is the ever-classic gaining access and control of a single computer system; and RTFM gives them temporary proficiency (and expertise for skills) in a skill or equipment type.*Distracted is a new condition that makes a target suffer disadvantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks not directed at the source of the distraction, as well as being unable to take bonus actions and reactions.The Mastermind is a general-purpose chessmaster/Ozymandias type, where their insight into human nature and behavior lets them make predictions about others. Their default abilities include advantage on all ability checks to recall information and spending a reaction to let an ally reroll a failed attack roll. Their Pplans include abilities like I Had That Poisoned, where as a reaction they choose a weapon, medicine, or food in a scene to be poisoned, allowing a variety of conditions and scaling poison damage to apply to an affected target; I Have the Perfect Disguise is activated as an action that makes them and/or allies look and sound like some else; or They’ll Never See Us Coming, which is a Pass Without Trace equivalent that grants a scaling bonus on Stealth checks.The Scientist is our final Smart archetype, and also one of the two archetypes in the game that doesn’t get any Equipment proficiencies by default.* They specialize in creating chemical devices that can be deployed in battle or other tasks. Their default talent includes the ability to use leftover biohazardous material as a ranged weapon that uses their Intelligence for attack rolls, and deals 1d6-3d6 damage of various chooseable damage types (the classic elemental kinds plus explosive and poison). Their plans include nifty devices such as an Adrenaline Shot that grants a willing or Unconscious ally temporary hit points, an Inferno Bomb which is an AoE explosive dealing fire damage and can grant the Burning condition** on targets, Knockout Gas which is similar to the Sleep spell in affecting targets based on their hit point values, and Right Into My Trap which creates an AoE sticky web explosion that can Restrain targets.*Meaning they and the Charming’s Manipulator have a chance in not being proficient in any weapons at all barring the right background/profession/feat.**basically like being on fire in default 5e.Instead of talking about each particular archetype, I’ll share my thoughts as a more general overview along with the Smart Hero as a whole. The Smart Hero is really something else when it comes to classes: of the three physically-oriented ones previously covered, a commonality among them was that their primary functions revolved around combat. The Smart Hero departs from this, in that they have a variety of abilities which are broadly useful for all sorts of events and challenges. Apart from their skill proficiencies and expertise, they are good for things beyond just general “hacker/scholar/builder” roles, such as the Mastermind being useful for social and stealth type stuff, and the Scientist makes for a rather competent healer as it’s one of the few classes with the ability to grant others temporary hit points or removing negative conditions via I Have the Cure. The Hacker is also broad, in that beyond the implications of hacking in a modern world in general they get stuff like bonus Wealth and temporary proficiencies.For all this broad out-of-combat potential, the archetypes are predictably non-offensive. While they all get some kind of scaling damage Plan, they tend to be limited by Genius, or in the Hacker’s case their only damaging Plan affects just mechanical creatures.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/cXj4tDx.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Wise Heroes are…well, they’re people who prefer to observe and think before they act. The book even mentions that they don’t really have a singular theme in terms of role or concept, and I’ve noticed that in the supplements as well in regards to some new archetypes. The Crow’s Reborn is a Wise archetype, as are Pacific Rim’s Bonded Twins archetype.The Wise Hero has a good d10 Hit Die and a Defense score equal to their Proficiency Bonus, meaning that whatever their role they’re sure to be able to soak up a few good hits. Like Smart Heroes they have a spendable resource known as Focus, save that it recovers on short as well as long rests. Their universal level 1 and 2 abilities include spending Focus to reroll a failed Wisdom ability check and the ability to choose to not fall prone when performing the Dive for Cover reaction.The Hunter is the first archetype, representing a character who has a trusty animal companion at their side. They’re predictably Rangerlike in getting a good amount of skill proficiencies, Basic and Advanced Equipment proficiency, and Expertise in one wilderness-style skill. At level one they get an animal companion with one of four stat blocks (ape, canine, feline, bird) with their own abilities. Said companion take a Second Wind as a Hunter’s action once per long rest. Additionally the Hunter can also mark a target they can see as a bonus action, gaining advantage on various Wisdom skills to track and pursue the target as well as have them or their animal companion able make attacks against them as a bonus action. At later levels the Hunter can add their proficiency bonus to their companion’s Defense, saves, ability checks, and damage rolls, can spend Focus to reroll a missed attack roll or damage roll result they or their companion just made, gain +4 Defense for them and their companion against a single target who struck either of them in combat, and adding +1d8 damage to marked targets.So, the Hunter is built pretty well as a fighter and likely skill-user. They have the potential to be good damage-dealers, what with the bonus action from marking a target to rerolling damage. Their animal companions can make for good tanks as well: the +4 Defense bonus is pretty significant, and the general Companion rules allow a companion to Dodge by the PC spending a bonus action. As this leaves the PC’s action unspent, they can then attack themselves (twice with Advanced Combat Training) while the companion acts as a distraction. Being animals the companions are limited in lacking ranged capability, although all of them save the canine come with an alternate movement type in either climbing or flying.The Master is our second archetype, a melee combatant of a more cerebral nature. At 1st level they substitute their Wisdom for attack and damage rolls for all melee weapons along with special attacks such as disarm/grapple/shove, add their ability modifier to off-hand weapon damage, gain +1 Defense, and Damage Reduction 15 against falling damage.* Additionally, they can Spend 1 Focus for a variety of special moves, such as using a bonus action to make 2 unarmed attacks, Dash, Disengage, or Dodge, or reroll a failed Athletics or Acrobatics check which doesn’t cost an action but can only be used once per ability check. At higher levels they gain things such as redirecting an enemy’s missed melee attack to another enemy within 5 feet of them, a Ki Strike that spends Focus for a chance to stun a target if they fail a Constitution save, can make an attack or grapple/shove as a free action against a target whose attack they redirected or used a Focus-based ability on, becoming immune to a variety of conditions (Frightened, Intoxication, and Sickened) plus poison damage, and their Focus boosting back up to 4 if they have less than 4 when initiative is rolled.*Falling is more lethal in Everyday Heroes, being 1d8 every 10 feet rather than 1d6. Still, this is a significant reduction that can allow for a Master to drop 10 to 30 feet with a fair chance of receiving little to no damage.The Master is ED’s Monk equivalent in more ways than one. There is some overlap with the Martial Artist such as with bonus action unarmed strikes and bonus action Dash and Disengage, although in this case it costs them a limited resource in the form of Focus. Their abilities feel like a grab-bag in being “just a little bit of everything,” from various defensive features to special abilities that can stun opponents or redirect attacks, which I imagine makes them feel more versatile in play in comparison to a Martial Artist albeit with a lower damage ceiling. But paradoxically better Defense and hit points!The Sleuth is our final Wise archetype, being those who investigate the unknown. At 1st level they gain an assortment of abilities, such as substituting Wisdom for initiative, attack and damage rolls for non-heavy weapons, can Search as a bonus action, can reroll a failed Intelligence ability check, and a pseudo-Sneak Attack in the form of Weak Spot where they can spend Focus to deal a bonus 1d6 to 5d6 damage on a single attack. At higher levels they gain immunity to being surprised in combat, Expertise in a detective-style skill, can halve damage from an incoming attack as a reaction, and treat a roll of 9 or lower on any Perception/Insight/Investigation as a 10.The Sleuth is closer to the Smart Hero archetypes in being less combative and more skill-intensive, particularly in regards to “knowing things.” Weak Spot is their sole offensive feature, although substituting Wisdom for attacks is pretty nice in that it allows them to neglect physical abilities for those who want to play a grizzled old detective past their prime. The Rogue-like half damage reaction and Evasion feel a bit out of left field, but work rather well with the Sleuth’s nature of being extra-perceptive.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/H7dAFpi.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Charming Heroes are those who let their words do the work. They have a decent d8 Hit Die and a Defense Bonus equal to their Proficiency Bonus minus 1. Their expendable resources are Influence Die, which begin at d6 and increase by one die type every time their Proficiency Bonus increases (d8 at 5th, d10 at 9th). Like Focus they are recharged on a short or long rest and the number of Dice they have between rests increases with level. The other big feature is that they learn Tricks, which are akin to Smart Plans in that what ones they have access to depend on their archetype, although they learn fewer in number and with a smaller amount. All Charming Heroes at level 2 can spend an Influence Die to add to the result of a Charisma check.Duelist is our first archetype, representing a stylish melee fighter. They’re the only archetype that grants Historical Equipment proficiency by default (the other being Martial Artist), and in terms of D&D comparisons they’re closest to the Battlemaster Fighter. At 1st level they deal one additional weapon die of damage with weapons that have the finesse property and add +1 to their Defense whenever wielding such a weapon.* At later levels they gain benefits such as adding Charisma to initiative, imposing disadvantage on opportunity attacks, and can add double the result of an Influence Die whenever they’d add or reduce damage from a Trick they use. Their Tricks are predictably offensive, usually a melee attack that adds the Influence Die as damage along with some additional effect like disarming, Distracting, or knocking prone a target along with your damage-reducing Parry and counterattack as a reaction Riposte abilities.*Fun Fact: unarmed attacks have the finesse property in Everyday Heroes, so depending on your GM a Duelist fighting unarmed or with one hand free can get this bonus!I find it rather amusing that such a physically-inclined archetype is linked to a Charisma-based class, but as the physical classes already have enough archetypes I can’t complain too much. The most damaging physical weapons with Finesse are the Rapier and Quarterstaff that deal 1d8, so at 1st level you can deal 2d8 + your Strength or Dexterity modifier when wielding them. And 2d4 with unarmed strikes; in fact, Duelists make great unarmed fighters due to this.The Icon is a showoff who never does anything halfway. They are a jack of all trades, being focused in both skills and combat. At level 1 they can spend a bonus action to draw an enemy’s attention, granting their allies advantage on attacks against that enemy before the start of the Icon’s next turn. Outside of combat they can do a Fascination-style effect in imposing disadvantage on Perception checks by holding a crowd’s attention. At later levels they can impose disadvantage on an enemy’s attack roll, reroll a natural 1 on an influence or damage die, and once per short or long rest automatically hit and crit with a single attack. Their Tricks are a mixture of combat and non-combat stuff, such as spending an Influence Die to make a target agree to do a favor, impose the Frightened condition and add the Influence Die to the damage of an attack, or add their Influence Die to the result of an attack roll, Athletics, or Acrobatics skill provided the Icon has at least one person watching them.There are two Tricks that feel oddly balanced, in that one looks blatantly better than the other:Insult to Injury looks like a clear winner: it automatically works as opposed to requiring failing a save, and it works on all attacks vs all attacks other than you. While one can argue that it acts as a subtle manipulation in making the controller of the enemy (usually the GM) decide to not risk a gamble on a disadvantage roll, generally speaking it’s better to have disadvantage on everyone so that even if they attack the Icon they’re less likely to hit.The Icon can be a strong option, albeit less in one role so much as several potential ones in that their abilities are so varied. The Trick that adds Influence to Athletics can make them a pretty good “shover/grappler bard” by adding anywhere from 1d6 to 1d10 to the result, and the trick that is akin to the Command spell is also pretty broad in the kind of favors that can be asked. They’re also the only class that can impose the Frightened condition on an enemy, which is a really good debuff.The Leader is the party buffer of the Charming archetypes. At level 1 they can do a Command where they spend their action to let an ally spend their reaction to move their speed or make a single attack. At higher levels they can let allies regain 1 spent Hit Die once per long rest, use a Command with only a bonus action (as well as an action, letting them do up to 2 Commands per turn), grant temporary Hit Points to allies a la the Inspiring Leader feat albeit done as an action rather than 10 minutes, and granting allies within 10 feet a bonus on all saves equal to the Leader’s Charisma modifier. Their Tricks are similarly helpful to allies, such as spending an Influence Die as a reaction to reduce the damage an ally takes from an attack, adding an Influence Die to an ally’s attack or save as a reaction, and adding an Influence Die to the damage dealt with an attack and giving advantage to the next attack made by an ally against that target.The Leader really shines with certain allies. The classic “Sneak Attack multiple times per round” trick can be done with the Scoundrel, and Strong Heroes also do a Power Attack (and Brawlers a Smash) during their turn rather than once per round. They can also be useful in a party with an Engineer or Hunter, who can make up for sacrificing an action to command their companion with a Leader granting another attack to one of them. The Amphibious Robot companion in particular is useful as they can make a Stun-inducing shock attack which doesn’t deal much damage but can inflict a powerful Condition. Other archetypes aren’t as exploitable, at least by my initial reading of the rules: the Sleuth’s Weak Spot is activated as a bonus action, while Plans typically aren’t a single attack so much as being special abilities activated via an action/bonus action/reaction.The Manipulator is our final Charming archetype, and final archetype of the Everyday Heroes core rules. They focus on debuffing enemies, and like Smart Heroes have features that are optimized for noncombat stuff. At level one they can Demoralize a target that can hear them within 60 feet, where on a failed Wisdom save the target suffers disadvantage on all attacks and ability checks until the end of the manipulator’s next turn, as well as causing attacks made against them to have advantage. At higher levels they can perfectly mimic the voice of another person they heard for at least 1 minute, can hypnotize someone to take a course of action akin to the Suggestion spell, use Demoralize as a bonus action rather than an action, create up to six ironclad alternate identifies, Expertise in a single Charisma-based skill besides Performance, and treat a 9 or lower on a Charisma check as a 10. Their tricks are similarly offensive, ranging from being able to “hide in plain sight” by adding Influence to a Stealth check without the need for cover or darkness until the remainder of their turn, the ability to feint an opponent as a bonus action and granting themselves advantage on their next attack against said opponent, spend an Influence Die to force a target to hit another target within 5 feet of the Manipulator, force a target to truthfully answer a number of questions equal to their Influence Die if they fail a Wisdom save, or subtracting an Influence die from the result of a target’s saving throw. And in the case of the directly offensive ones, they too add the Influence Die to the damage dealt.The Manipulator is a pretty great class, both in and out of combat. Demoralize alone is a great feature that can really weaken a single target and let the rest of the party go to town on them. Being able to reduce an enemy’s saving throw is great for all sorts of combos, too. Their out of combat abilities are pretty broad, although a few of them feel rather situational. Voice mimicry can be replicated by a Smart Hero Mastermind plan that can also affect other allies and come with more physical disguises, and the alternate identities come in rather late at 7th level.Thoughts So Far: We have another batch of strong and fun options among the mentally-inclined classes. I do feel that the Smart Hero is more pigeon-holed than the others, in that even the Wise and Charming Heroes have some “combat-ready” archetypes or decent defensive features in the case of Wise. The Wise and Charming Hero’s Tricks and special features aren’t tied to their key ability scores in a way that determines the amount they get, unlike a Smart Hero’s Plans, so the Smart Hero has more incentive to boost their primary score than the others. Most of the archetypes have very appealing features for what they do, with the outliers being Master (who is a bit too unfocused) and Manipulator (who has a great level 1 ability but later abilities that aren’t as good).If anything, this makes me wish that the physical Hero classes had more noncombat tools at their disposal. On the one hand you can gain quite a bit of the mental classes’ utilities via Multiclassing feats, but there is a difference in that the mental classes can still fight well without multiclassing into Strong/Agile/Tough.Join us next time as we go over Feats and Equipment!</blockquote>

Verification