Unearthed Arcana Revived, Noble Genie and Archivist Revisited in UA

The latest Unearthed Arcana replaces the Revived, Noble Genie, and Archivist subclasses with new versions called the Phantom, the Genie, and the Order of Scribes.

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dnd.wizards.com

 

[Marandahir]

That would seem reasonable, yeah. This is one of the flaws in analyzing the MM entries as a whole to rate resistances and the like - it doesn't always reflect what makes the table.

Would be interesting if WotC had user data somewhere for how much each type of monster appears at the table. Probably would be hard to gleam.

 

[Gradine]

All y'all realize that for the vast majority of players who haven't studied spreadsheets filled with every published monster ever, the ability to change damage types on spells on the fly is a fun rider and, at best, a neat little additional bit of added utility, right?

Some of us have been waiting for an easy energy admixture for a long time, please don't ruin it with your obsessive maths.

 

[Olrox17]

How does a wizard get raidant damage? On my head i only remember cleric spells with that damage type? Or how does the crystall ball spell the name i just forgot work. Doesnt this let you choose the damge type as well?
nevertheless if you have never heard of it the game i really enjoyed it. One if the only solo games i finished probably in the last 5 years or so.

Off the top of my head, there's Sickening Radiance. Don't remember if there are more wizard radiant spells. Chromatic Orb has a lot of element options, probably not radiant though.
Never heard about that game. I'll check it out, thanks

 

[Phazonfish]

That doesn't meaningfully change the problem of "All my attack spells are force damage, whee!", it just adds the small tax of having to prepare Magic Missile every day. And really, in what world does a Wizard complain about having to prepare Magic Missile?

Honestly, I think the problem is specifically force damage being better than every other type of damage. If the Wizard was playing matching games so they can throw poison Fireballs and thunder Burning Hands, that's kind of interesting and arguably acceptable as a no-cost ability. But that's not what players are going to do, they're just going to convert everything to force damage because it means never having to worry about damage resists again.

So either the list of acceptable damage types has to be narrowed to not include force damage or there has to be a use cap on the ability so that it isn't a "set it and forget it" toggle.

Are you guys all playing blaster Wizards? I get that Forceballs are great and all, but even if this had a limit like "can only be used a number of times equal to your proficiency modifier. You regain all uses after taking a long rest." I wouldn't see a difference because it would take a long, combat heavy day for me to throw that many Fireballs anyway. And it does nothing to creatures that already don't resist your damage type. I agree that having to match types would be funner than being able to brainlessly pick force, but I really don't think this feature is abnormally strong. Strong, to be sure, but not in need of fixing.

It sounds like the psionics wizard subclass was dropped. So despite it appearing this fall's book was planned to be "the book with psionics" we might not get a psionic spellcasting class.

Chopped LiverPsionic Soul Sorcerer: "I'm still here!"

Wizardly Quill - Meh. Not even invisible text only you can read?

It's strictly better than every feature the PHB Wizard subclasses get in that slot.

Well, I read the onomancy subclass. At first, I wasn't interested. Then, I got a little into it. And, to be honest, I started getting a bit excited about onomancy. And then a little more excited. A little more excited. A bit more excited. Then really excited!

....and then I wasn't excited.

So, yeah, I can see why they dropped it.

Same. It's a super cool concept, but the whole truename system needs some work, so it seems like more trouble than it's worth. I'd still love to see it done right if they ever decide to bother though.

Tharizdun's Black Book

Does saying I want this give me my first level in Warlock?

Expanded Spell List: I love these added spells. They're very useful. Also: WISH! Awesome! It's really great. I love that there's different spell lists for each patron you could served. That seems like a much needed change. Honorable Mentions: Thunderwave, Fireball, Control Water, Wall of Stone, Blur.

Interesting. I was severely nonplussed by these lists. Outside of Wish of course, that's great. These spells are like... okay? But the subclass doesn't even give them to you, they are just added to the Warlock list for you to have the option of spending selections on; Fireball and Wall of Stone are nice I guess, but I feel like there are just better options on the default list.

Elemental Gift: Amazingly useful. No concentration, no spell based flying. Also, resistance to bludgeoning damage is nothing to sneeze at.

Love this.

Third, the Archivist, couch, hem . . . I mean the Scribe. I will miss the Archivist.

Did... did you just couch instead of coughing?

It's going to be the most popular subclass for anyone who's ever lost their spellbook on a previous character.

For real. Drawmij's Instant Summons, you just lost the only thing that made you slightly appealing.

Well, only in Common. There's a difference in pronunciation in Auran.

(What was the name of the genie language in Al-Qadim? It always seems stupid to me that there's no longer a common genie language now.)

Forgive me for my lack of knowledge of lore because I'm sure that is about to be made apparant, but if the djinni are speaking Auran isn't the common language Primordial? Though I suppose it's not specific to genies.

If I were to play a Scribe, I'd probably abuse the hell out of the damage-type swapping. Change all Magic Missiles to radiant damage against shadows to instantly destroy them all

Taking Sickening Radiance just to murder CR 1/2 creatures easily at 7th level and up doesn't exactly sound like something I would call "abuse" but I'm happy you would have fun with it.

Splitting hairs. Plus, WotC have said they don't balance around damage type.

I feel like this is the problem and gating force damage is just a bandage.

Again with a wizard subclass that can swap elements at will? I thought they learned that lesson with the negative feedback the UA lore master got. Apparently not.

I think that was more about the fact that you could take any one Lore Master feature other than the initiative thing, give a wizard subclass that one feature and no other non-ribbons and you would have decently balanced class.

 

[Chaosmancer]

All y'all realize that for the vast majority of players who haven't studied spreadsheets filled with every published monster ever, the ability to change damage types on spells on the fly is a fun rider and, at best, a neat little additional bit of added utility, right?

Some of us have been waiting for an easy energy admixture for a long time, please don't ruin it with your obsessive maths.

Sure, people want to be able to switch damage types.

Why is it that the wizard gets to do it better, sooner, and much cheaper than the sorcerer, who is more thematically tied to having a single overriding damage type?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

How does a wizard get raidant damage?

You can do a damage type search in D&D Beyond. The lowest level one currently in the game is Sickening Radiance, but the UA spell "Spirit Shroud" is a level lower. Core rules only, there is Sunbeam. (NB Chromatic Orb cannot do radiant damage, but it covers all the elements).

I'm not against wizards having this ability, but it needs to be limited, say once per short rest, or causes the spell to count as one level higher, or uses up your bonus action, or somesuch.

 

[Aldarc]

Chopped LiverPsionic Soul Sorcerer: "I'm still here!"

"To be determined" whether the chopped liver is worth touching.

 

[lkj]

I'm not keen on the way the pet is implemented. I'd almost prefer an actual animated spell book than this floating novelty lightbulb.

Maybe go with something that provides more flexibility - like the book being able to temporarily absorb the essence of some magical effect it's exposed to, allowing the character to gain limited access to a spell they've seen, even if it's not on their spell list.

Does the spellbook remind anyone else of Bob from the Dresden files?

AD

 

[Mistwell]

It's strictly better than every feature the PHB Wizard subclasses get in that slot.

Yes, but you could say that about all Wizard subclass which has come out since the PHB (Bladesigner, Chronurgist, Graviturgist, Onomancer, War Mage) because they changed the model for that slot. And given the model set by all the subclasses since the PHB, I think it should do a tiny bit more. Like writing only you can read, or only those you designate can read.

 

[Phazonfish]

Yes, but you could say that about every single Wizard subclass which has come out since the PHB because they changed the model for that slot. And given the model set by all the subclasses since the PHB, I think it should do a tiny bit more. Like writing only you can read, or only those you designate can read.

I agree that a new standard has been set for how good the level 2 ribbon slot feature is supposed to be, but the word I bolded is the operative one. Int mod to initiative is IMO better than half cost for scribing Abjuration spells when looking at the Wizard's career overall, but higher Initiative doesn't help you at scribing Abjuration spells, so the Abjurer can at least do something the War Mage can't. If you had a Venn Diagram of "Situations when Wizardly Quill is useful" vs "Situations when [school] Savant is useful", the latter would be a smaller circle contained entirely in that of the former. I feel like this is something we should avoid even if we are not worried about the powercreep happening here.