D&D 5E Turn 2 full casters into pact casters

[Shardstone]

Bard & Druid. Sorcerers should be point-based.

 

[Pedantic]

I'd actually push for Cleric and Druid. That makes divine magic as a whole mimic Fantasy Craft's approach. Arcane casters had to roll checks and spend points to cast spells, divine casters get a set of unimpeachable miracles with cooldowns.

 

[cbwjm]

Druid and either cleric or bard.

I think invocations would be great for building up nature themed powers for a druid or altering the power of their wildshape.

Cleric could be somewhat customisable to a deity bu selecting the right invocations with their spell slots recharging with a prayer to their gods during short rest.

The bard I think would be great as a pact caster as they're the jack of all trades class. Their invocations would borrow from other classes as well as enhancing their bardic abilities. Song of rest would become an invocation, maybe there'd be others like song of war, song of warding, etc. The various pacts would act like the warlock's focusing them down certain areas so you might have pact of the sage or pact of the blade (though with a more bardy style of name rather than pact.

 

[Laurefindel]

Bard is the obvious choice for me; that keep them potent spellcasters without feeling like full spellcasters. Win.

Then I’d choose Druid. That would give them a stronger class identity than “other nature cleric”. Beside, if we’re going for symmetry, might as well have a divine pact caster in the lot for representation.

 

[Horwath]

everyone.
also make short rest 5min again.

 

[ezo]

Came here to say this, despite bards being in AD&D.

Yep, but since they were "optional" in 1E, and Rogues in 2E, they never felt like the others IMO, so I chuck them more in with the WotC established classes (or out completely ).

 

[TwoSix]

I'd actually push for Cleric and Druid. That makes divine magic as a whole mimic Fantasy Craft's approach. Arcane casters had to roll checks and spend points to cast spells, divine casters get a set of unimpeachable miracles with cooldowns.

Yea, I think having the 3 classes with pact magic represent one "type" of magic, and the other 3 classes represent an opposing approach (like arcane and divine), could really be an interesting way to embed the cosmology in the setting.

Like, I think doing warlock/cleric/druid, and treating warlock as divine due to its connection to a greater entity makes a ton of sense. Or, maybe you do something like druid/sorcerer/warlock, and have the normal casters be on the side of order/law/civilization, and the pact casters channel raw, primordial, chaotic forces.

 

[Reynard]

I really like the Warlock format as a "powered" format. You could use it to make martials cool, too. Like, I think the Warlock format would make a better Battle Master or Barbarian.

 

[TwoSix]

I really like the Warlock format as a "powered" format. You could use it to make martials cool, too. Like, I think the Warlock format would make a better Battle Master or Barbarian.

Fully agree. A lot of my favorite 3pp stuff uses the Warlock model either explicitly or implicitly. A menu of passive or recharge options to pick from (like Invocations), and then a few times per short rest burst of power (like Pact Magic Spells).

 

[ezo]

Like, I think doing warlock/cleric/druid, and treating warlock as divine due to its connection to a greater entity makes a ton of sense.

This is the approach our other DM began a few years ago and we've been using ever since. Warlocks became a subclass of Cleric, and clerics all have access to Invocations, which are sometimes powered by their channel divinity.

Basically, you have classes where magic/spells are given (via worship, pact, whatever) vs. magic/spells which are created (via formulas, channeling, whatever). IMO it does create a much better divide between the types of casting classes.

When you consider that channel divinity and wild shape are recovered on a short rest, and are the primary non-spell abilities for cleric and druid, linking them with warlock (short rest class) just makes sense.