Okay, full reviews:
Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk
First, I like the feel, but it is kind of strange. However, given the fact that most monk subclasses are strange (I'm looking at you, Sun Soul, Astral Self, Long Death, and Mercy Monks), I guess it fits into the crowd. Second, it definitely feels more Tiamat connected than just any other dragon type, given that you are never specifically linked to a type of damage, but that just makes this subclass better, as they can choose to focus on lightning damage, but do fire damage when fighting trolls. Third, I am not one to criticize something without offering suggestions or help to fix the issue, so all of my posts below where I harp on something will include a suggestion to fix it.
Draconic Discipline: This ability is not great. I understand that it is meant to be the minor ability of 3rd level, but it still feels lacking to me.
- The damage type changing is mostly useless beyond 6th level, due to the fact that damage vulnerabilities to these types are extremely rare, and that magical damage is typically better than just elemental/poison damage. I would change this to be for any attack you make with an unarmed strike or monk weapon, just so its a bit more useful for later levels in some circumstances.
- The draconic language is fine, but kind of strange as other monks don't get languages. It's a language, its usefulness is extremely campaign dependent.
- The rerolling failed intimidation and persuasion checks is not very good for monks, as they are already very MAD, and don't need to focus on Charisma. This last part would work better as a Dragon Patron Warlock feature, IMO.
Breath of the Dragon: Okay, strange ability. Well, it's not strange in theme, but is strange in mechanics. It's a breath weapon, but you can pick and choose what damage types and breath weapon shapes you want to use whenever you use this ability. That's kind of weird, but can be extremely useful in certain battle positions. The damage starts out worse than just punching or hitting with a spear, but it eventually gets to decent amounts of damage. I know that it is meant to be weak at lower levels, but 5 damage doesn't feel like a FIRE BREATH ability to me. Would it be too broken to allow it to be 3d(Martial Arts Dice) at lower levels? At the end of the feature, I thought we finally got a monk that does not use ki points for everything in the game, until I saw that it in fact can recharge from Ki points, even if you get some free uses. Still, another way to fuel your abilities except for KI at least makes this not be awful (stares deadpan at Way of the Four Elements). I would prefer for this to be once a short rest, maybe getting more uses at later levels, instead of the weird long rest recharge.
Wings Unfurled: Also kind of weird. I mean, I like its theme a ton, but again, the mechanics are weird. Wizards of the Coast is really going all in on the Proficiency Bonus scaling, to the point that its getting annoying. I would change this to have no limits whatsoever. If a level 20 dragon monk wants to spend all of their 20 ki points to fly through the air for 2 minutes straight, I would let them do it without this stupid ki point tax. Scrap the proficiency bonus per long rest thing, as well as the extra Ki points tax, and this is gold. Or, you could move this feature to level 11 and have them expend 3-4 ki for flight for 1 minute (maybe with concentration).
Aspect of the Wyrm: So, this is basically a paladin aura spell, mixed in with a duration effect that basically gives you a weaker, no-save, extended range Hellish Rebuke. Kind of weird, especially for monks, who typically don't get support abilities, and its even weirder for a dragon-themed monk. Dragons aren't support themed, and they're certainly not retribution-themed. Also, by this point, most people have a lot of reaction options, so another to do 1d8 damage that is very commonly resisted is not very good, IMO.
Ascendant Aspect: By this point, WotC ran out of ideas for naming features, and just decided to combine the name of the subclass with the name of the previous ability. Besides the kind of lazy name, this ability is also kind of weird.
- The blindsight is fine, fits the theme, and is a normally good feature. My only gripe is that they thought they had to reprint what blindsight is, and that the blindsight is too small in range. At this point, ancient dragons get a 60 foot blindsight. I see no issue with giving a monk subclass 60 feet of blindsight as their capstone.
- The lighting someone on fire/acid/poison/lightning/cold with your breath weapon is a nice feature, though the damage is kind of small. At least it works on any creature inside the AoE of your breath weapon, not just those that fail. It really helps if you're fighting hobgoblins at level 17, I guess.
- The buff to Aspect of the Wyrm is a nice boost in damage, basically now turning the feature into a paladin aura merged with [spell]hellish rebuke[/spell] and [spell]destructive wave[/spell]. I still think that feature doesn't really fit, and so I would replace this with an extended ranged breath weapon, just to make it so you don't have a puny 20-foot-cone at 17th level.
Overall, I like the theme of the subclass, but I think it was poorly executed. Don't get me wrong, I definitely want this published, and I appreciate that Ki points aren't automatically taken to use all of your features, but it definitely needs quite a bit of work before being published, IMO. I would love to play a Kobold Monk who was taught the art of being a Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk, using Wings Unfurled to temporarily become an Urd. There are a lot of character concepts that thrive with this subclass. However, I think it is mechanically lacking. I'm not saying it's underpowered, but it's just unnecessarily weird.
Drakewarden Ranger
First, I literally just created a homebrew fighter subclass kind of similar to this about a week and a half ago (
Dragon Rider), but mine is different in many ways. Second, I love the idea of this, but some parts of it are like the Ascendant Dragon Monk, not bad, just kind of weird. Third, like above, I never criticize something just to complain, I want to alert people of the issues and offer advice for fixing them.
Draconic Gift: There are some issues with this. The draconic language is decent, but not great if you want to play a Dragon Hunter that rides a Drake, as Favored Enemy will give you draconic if you choose dragons as your favored enemy. This probably won't end up being a problem if Tasha's comes out with Favored Foe, as most people will probably end up taking that instead of Favored Enemy, but for people who won't use that book, this will occasionally be an issue. [spell]Thaumaturgy[/spell] is a good cantrip that fits the draconic theme (for the most part), but I don't think it fits this subclass. IMO, it would fit better with the Monk or a Dragon Warlock Patron than for this ranger subclass. I would replace this cantrip with making the drake a bit better.
Drake Companion: Cool dragon companion. It's better than Beast Masters, as you can command it as a bonus action, and actually better than the Steel Defender in some ways, with the AC, its being able to speak, its reaction, and by allowing it to act even if you're incapacitated. That is a great feature that makes your character still feel useful even if the enemy [monster]mage[/monster] has cast [spell]hold person[/spell] on you. I would change some things about this, though. I would make it start out Large, just to let you mount it right off the bat. I'd also change it to allowing you to summon it during a long rest and lasting all day, but can expend a spell slot to summon it back if it dies. I would also allow the drake to add its strength modifier to its damage, like 99.9% of the monsters in the game.
Bond of Fang and Scale: This is all good. Damage resistance is good, the movement increase is good (95% of Drakewarderns will choose flight), and the extra damage is good. Whether or not its balanced, I'm not sure. Most rangers will be able to attack as a bonus action somehow, and the Drake Companion can't benefit from [spell]hunter's mark[/spell], so I feel like their damage is balanced. I also would increase the Infused Strikes by 1d6, but that could push this feature over the edge.
Drake's Breath: So, you basically can make a cone-shaped-[spell]fireball[/spell] of any draconic damage type, but it only deals as much damage as [spell]fireball[/spell] once you get to level 15. I would change this to be the damage type your drake has as their Draconic Essence, but that's just for it to make sense. I'd also change this to a bonus action you can only cause your Drake to make, but that's not a huge deal.
Perfected Bond: You finally get to ride your dragon! At level 15. It's too bad your campaign ended 5 levels ago. This is how I would change this:
- I would make the dragon either start out large, or it becomes large at level 7. Then, you could move the flight to this capstone feature. This would allow you to ride your dragon soon after becoming a Drakewarden, but you can't fly on it until it matures at your capstone feature. I would also allow all dragons to breathe underwater and swim, as well as fly.
- Even more damage! Nice! I still would like for Infused Strikes to not be 1d6 damage at level 20, because the feature doesn't scale for some reason.
- So, you and your dragon both get uncanny dodge while within 30 feet of each other, but you have to take the reaction. No real complaints, other than the fact that it steals from the rogue because rangers didn't do enough of that already
.
Overall, I like the theme of the ranger. I personally think its mechanics are a bit better thought out than the Ascendant Dragon Monk's features, but both have their quirks. Maybe before D&D 5e gives us a subclass devoted to Drakes, they should actually define what the hell drakes are, as there are only the [monster]guard drake[/monster]s and [monster]ambush drake[/monster]s in 5e, and they don't really give us a good description of what drakes are, other than "medium dragons, but no wings, and not intelligent." All of those rules are broken by this subclass. Furthermore, this subclass's only definition of a drake is a "minor dragon," whatever that means (aren't wyrmlings already a thing?). This makes me wonder if WotC wanted to make a Dragon Rider subclass without actually making a
Dragon Rider.
Anyway, my main critique of this subclass is that point. Its a dragon rider more than a drake warden. Nothing about their flavor text suggests that they "ward" anything, their drake isn't actually a drake by 5e standards, and this subclass kind of bashes on Beast Masters, even with the CFV UA's Beast Companions. Instead of making a subclass that's main objective is to crap on the already crappy subclass of the already crappy class, maybe Wizards should have taken this theme and moved it elsewhere, or at least solidified what the heck this subclass is meant to be except for "Magic-Dragon Beast Master, but BETTER!" I don't know. Maybe I'm just being whiny.
Conclusive Thoughts
I like the themes of these subclasses. I really do. I would love for a game named after this creature type (dragons) to have more options to play dragon-themed characters. Currently, there's basically just Kobolds, Dragonborn and Draconic Bloodline Sorcerers. These would add a lot of more options and combinations to play draconic PCs, which I absolutely love. With this UA, if you want to play a completely draconic character, there are now 6 options for race-subclass combinations, instead of the previous 2 (there's more with dragonborn subraces, heritages, and bloodlines).
Despite my love for more draconic characters, I have some fairly large issues with this UA, particularly in design and mechanics. The mechanical issues are larger for the Ascendant Dragon Monk than the Drakewarden Ranger, but the design/theme issues are a much larger problem for the Drakewarden Ranger than the Ascendant Dragon Monk. I want to play a draconic monk whose features actually match the flavor, possibly giving them some frightening features (as that is draconic in theme), instead of the strange aura-damaging-support-punishment feature that it currently gets for "reasons." The designers at WotC need to decide whether or not they want a Dragon Rider subclass or Drake-Warden subclass for the ranger. If they choose the former, the dragon needs to actually be a dragon, instead of the current mutt of a dragon wyrmling and a guard drake. If they choose the Drake-Warden, the subclass needs to actually be a warden in a real way, not just in its name. The Drake also really needs to be a drake, or the designers at WotC need to change/expand the definition of drakes in 5e. Currently, it's basically just "dragons, but not really."
I am very excited that they're actually doing more UA after a few months of them having a break. I can't wait to see what book this is meant to go in. The theme shouts Dragonlance or just general Dungeons and
Dragons, but with TCoE coming out in less than a month, and the lawsuit against WotC by the creators of Dragonlance, I really don't see them making a campaign setting book for that world anytime soon. This UA is very peculiarly released. Typically, the only books that have subclasses in them are XGtE/TCoE type books or setting books. We're literally just about to get a XGtE-type book, so this is highly unlikely to be planned for a Xanathar's 3.0, and with the high improbability of getting Dragonlance, this UA raises a lot of questions about what Wizards of the Coast has planned for the future. Could it be Council of Wyrms? A Draconomicon? Will Volo's 3.0 have subclasses in it? There are so many questions produced by this UA.
That's it for now. I'll pop back in from time to time to see how the discussion is going.
