D&D 5E SCAG Crunch - Let's discuss inconsistencies and balance

[abirdcall]

Now that the SCAG is officially out I would like to hear what people think of specific bits of the crunch.

Overall I quite like the ideas. With that said, let's look at how things are balanced, how they are worded, and how they fit into the rest of the game as a whole.

There are a few things I would like to talk about and would like to hear what has popped out to others as potentially troublesome or flawed. I don't think they each deserve their own thread though as they can be fairly minor.

I will start with a few that have popped out at me:

Half-Elf Variants -

Giving up 2 skills to gain perception is quite an oversight and the sort of thing that I am looking for in this thread. It doesn't require much discussion as it is clearly bad. The weapon proficiencies are fairly silly as well.

Beyond that splitting up the Wood Elf into its parts yet keeping the cantrip and the more powerful Drow Magic is a bit strange.

I have always felt that base half-elves are a bit overpowered. I am planning to houserule them to +2 Cha / +1 other stat, 1 skill, and 1 ability chosen from this list but if Drow Magic is chosen it is more limited.

Purple Dragon Knight -

I already made a thread about this, but still looking for more input.

I quite like the idea behind it but feel that its signature 3rd level ability is not quite good enough. This is not an error in the book or anything, it just feels lacking.

I think I am going to try keying the amount of people affected by the healing to be Cha bonus but allow it to work on allies that have been reduced to 0 HP.

Way of the Long Death -

6th level frighten ability is not written like other fear abilities such as frightful presence. It affects your allies which is strange and you can keep using it even if the creature successfully saved against it. I plan on changing both of those aspects.

1 ki to stay at 1 hp seems quite strong. It will be a while until our group hits 11th level, I am willing to try it out but may increase the cost to 2 Ki per use.



What are your thoughts? Anything else that we should be aware of that are weirdly written and don't quite fit the rest of the game? Or maybe recommend some slight balance tweaks?

 

[Tony Vargas]

Overall I quite like the ideas. With that said, let's look at how things are balanced, how they are worded, and how they fit into the rest of the game as a whole.
Purple Dragon Knight -
I already made a thread about this, but still looking for more input.

I quite like the idea behind it but feel that its signature 3rd level ability is not quite good enough. This is not an error in the book or anything, it just feels lacking.

It really doesn't restore a number of hps to allies, 1/level is fairly trivial. One idea that's been floated on many a Warlord thread is letting allies roll HD. Since HD are a very limited resource (1/2 per long rest, slower-recovering than any other resource in the game), while it adds a great deal of effectiveness to the use of the ability, the cost is high enough that it's not imbalancing. The number of HD (again, as oft proposed elsewhere) could be based on the lower of the PDK's level or the target ally's level. It's usually a single-target thing, though, so providing the benefit to only one of the affected targets (the PDK or an ally), would be reasonable, too.

I think I am going to try keying the amount of people affected by the healing to be Cha bonus but allow it to work on allies that have been reduced to 0 HP.

Ruling that the '... or hear' part leaves it open to 0 hp allies is pretty reasonable.

What are your thoughts?

10th seems a long while to wait for granting an attack. Maybe give both the attack-granting rider to Action Surge, and the hp-granting rider to Second Wind at 3rd, but to only one ally, then expand both to multiple allies at 10th? Perhaps making the 10th level multi-ally version long-rest recharge for the PDK.

 

[hejtmane]

The Battle Rager is underwhelming if you are going by the Drtiz Books this falls way short and much like the Berserker it falls way short of the Totem

First thing they should had starting Spike armor and the ones in the book where plate not leather so the 14 AC + 2 dex is low imo should have been a hybrid plate/leather and just went with a 17 AC since you are losing the Barb no armor benefit


The bonus action for the extra attack at 1d4 is fine but in the books the entire armor is a weapon and hey do not use regular weapons.

They should have had a spike gauntlet for the normal attack that does 1d6

The Battle Charge at 10 should have had a charge attack that requires 10'+ to use and does damage some where between 1d10 and 1d12 (in that range of damage)and make a save to prevent being knocked prone. Freaking Dash action who cares this is a freakin Battle Rager should be all about destruction

I would also have added a bonus grapple action option if the target is prone yes make them pick and choose which bonus they have

If anyone at my table wants to play this I may house rule the class because in it's current form it is lame

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I houserule that every healing spell allows to spend 1 hit die without con bonus.
I do however believe, that the purple knight should add cha bonus to hitpoints healed, which makes the healing not totally trivial, considering that you forgo battlemaster or other paths. Even
5 hp sounds a lot better than 3 hp at level 3.
The keen senses for half elves are annoying and I would allow retaining keen senses and some of the presented options like weapon proficiencies or 5ft more speed.