Unearthed Arcana New UA Paladin and Bard.

There's a new Unearthed Arcana in town! "The bard receives a new Bardic College feature: the College of Eloquence. Additionally, the paladin gains a new Sacred Oath feature: the Oath of Heroism."

 

[MonsterEnvy]

My opinion.

BARD - College of Eloquence
Undeniable Logic is too strong in my opinion. Completely renders Heightened spell metamagic obselete.

Infectious Inspiration should just give you the ability to inspire two allies at a time.

PALADIN - Oath of Heroism
Oath Spells. Replace Enthrall with Enlarge/Reduce.

Beyond that, I’d say it works fairly well as a Champion Fighter, in some sort of “only spellcasters permitted” game.

All in all, I think that this new round of UA PDFs is intended for the next 5e Magic the Gathering campaign guide.

I don't agree, on the grounds that it' sa level 6 feature and meta magic is for sorcerer's not bards.


Enthrall makes more sense with how the Heroism Paladin is portrayed.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Ha! I love the Paladin. I'm imagining the hero in Dragon's Lair.

 

[gyor]

All of the places in Greek Mythology are in Planescape coexisting with other mythologies in the Great Ring, notably Arborea which was also known as Olympus in 1e before the setting existed. Planescape embraced the Hellenic Pantheon and other real world pantheons over most campaign world specific deities.

I believe his tying it in with his Zendikar hypothisis previously to come up with the realization that this is starting to suggest multiple MtG settings. This one suggests Theros a Greek inspired setting and the last one suggested Zendikar, both coming out next year with a set of MtG cards.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Hmmm, going back to the Wild Barbarian path, that makes a lot of sense in the context of The Beastlands or Arborea. I wonder if all the recent sub-class UAs could be tied to a specific outer plane?

I was thinking the Feywild.

The Monk is the Astral Plane, Warlock the Plane of Water, the Sorcerer the Far Realm, the Paladin Arborea.

Only one I can't place is the bard. I was thinking Mechanus at first.

But overall I think these classes are implying a Manual of the Planes.

 

[Mort]

I like the paladin. Allows one to play a supernatural hero without the chivalry baggage of the devotion paladin.

Increased critical hit range combined with smites is powerful. And as a bonus action to be able to smoothly open with it to boot. Might make some DMs groan.

Especially when the player goes for a half-elf with elven accuracy!

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I like these. And I liked the last batch of UA subclasses, too. All of them have had strong stories that lead the mechanics, an approach that has evolved and deepened since 5E launched. Contrast, for example, the story of the College of Glamour bard with the Valor bard (basically, a dip into fighter) and the Lore bard (dip into wizard).

In any case, the College of Persuasion is a cool story, but I find the low level mechanics somewhat underwhelming...especially when compared to the Glamour bard.

The Oath of Heroism is a novel spin on the paladin. The oath is basically, "I pledge to always be AWESOME!!!" It's pretty great. Definitely reminiscent of mythical Greek heroes like Hercules. Again, I'm really struck by how much of a departure this is from the traditional paladin story, yet how well it works. That said, I think the Channel Divinity options are underpowered compared to Devotion and Vengeance paladins.

 

[Mort]

I like the flavor of Glorious Defense. Seems a bit weak for a 15th level ability, but also fun to use. The capstone also looks interesting.

Weak?

By 15th level, your modifier is likely going to be +5 (maybe as low as +3 but considering the benefits CHA gives this oath, I think it gets prioritized).

That's as good as the shield spell - but no cap on usage for the day!

But it gets better, if the attack misses - you get to attack the attacker. This is essentially the Battlemaster's riposte maneuver, without the superiority die cap (sure you don't add a superiority die - but you can smite).

So to sum up, you get both one of the best defensive spells in the game and one of the best battle master maneuvers in the game rolled into one. unlimited usage!

Edit: Ok it's not as good as shield because it's only good against 1 attack and not for the rest after that, still 1 attack and you get an extra attack - it's strong!

 

[Urriak Uruk]

So here are all the subclasses so far;

Path of the Wild Soul (Barbarian):
The realm of the Feywild abounds with beauty, unpredictable emotion, and rampant magic. A barbarian exposed to this realm feels emotions powerfully and magic saturates their body. When a barbarian who follows this path rages, it is a bellowing roar for freedom, an explosion of expression, manifesting in unpredictable ways.

Way of the Astral Self (Monk):
Monks of the Way of the Astral Self have an internal struggle with their ki. They see their mystical energy as a representation of their true form, an astral self. This form has the capacity to be a force of good or destruction, with some monasteries training students to either temper their nature or embrace their impulses.

Aberrant Mind (Sorcerer):
An alien influence has wrapped its tendrils around you, warping you in both body and mind. Perhaps a psychic splinter lodged in your psyche after you suffered domination by an aboleth. Maybe you were born somewhere tainted by the Far Realm, a planar blot that changed you forever. Or perhaps mind flayers kidnapped you, subjecting you to the nightmarish process of ceremorphosis—but the transformation failed and left you altered.

The Lurker in the Deep (Warlock):
You made a pact with an entity that lurks somewhere deep in the ocean, or even on the Elemental Plane of Water, such as a mighty kraken, an ancient primordial, or a monstrous being from creation’s earliest days. You serve as this creature’s eyes and ears, watching the world beyond its domain and reporting your findings. You may have gained this pact as a member of a cult dedicated to the entity or after your patron saved your life when you nearly drowned at sea.

College of Eloquence (Bard):
Adherents of the College of Eloquence master the art of oratory. Persuasion is regarded as a high art, and a well-reasoned, well-spoken argument often proves more powerful than objective truth. These bards wield a blend of logic and theatrical wordplay, winning over skeptics and detractors with logical arguments, and plucking at heartstrings to appeal to the emotions of entire audiences.

Oath of Heroism (Paladin):
The Oath of Heroism is an affirmation of a destined path, one laid out for you by divine hands. For whatever reason, a god or a group of gods has included you in their machinations. You are not a reluctant hero, but one who fully embraces the idea that great deeds are yours to achieve. You train diligently, sculpting your body and refining your skills so you’re ready when destiny calls.

I'll say overall, the only thing tying these various subclasses together is potentially each having a link to a region of Planescape, as several of the mention areas like the Feywild, the Astral Plane, the Far Realm, the elemental planes, "divine intervention," etc. Planescape is also considered the most popular setting without a book apart from Dark Sun (and these don't fit that), so I'm putting a new setting book for the planes at the top of my guess list.

The only other guess I could make is a new setting book that combines several Magic settings into one book, such as Zendikar, Theros, and maybe another, but I still think the Planescape theory fits better.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Finally, the CG (leaning) paladin has arrived....

I will recommend a player watch any Aquaman episode of Batman: Brave and the Bold before playing this, because it would be Outrageous not too.

I have been saying that D&D needs a demigod class, and here is practically the demigod subclass.

I don't suppose it would be too much to ask for an Oath of Heroism paladin NPC to show up in the first published adventure after this class comes out?

Oh yeah, and there is a bard too....

 

[OB1]

I was thinking the Feywild.

The Monk is the Astral Plane, Warlock the Plane of Water, the Sorcerer the Far Realm, the Paladin Arborea.

Only one I can't place is the bard. I was thinking Mechanus at first.

But overall I think these classes are implying a Manual of the Planes.

Boy I hope so. Been waiting for the MotP for 5 years!

As for Bard, I think Mechanus makes sense, but it feels a bit more Arcadia to me.

I was just thinking if you limit it to outer planes, could you find fits for Warlock and Sorcerer in that context.