Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: Cleric, Druid, Wizard Options

In another new Unearthed Arcana (these things are coming out fast right now!) the cleric receives a new Divine Domain option: the Twilight Domain; the druid gains a new Druid Circle option: the Circle of Wildfire; and the wizard gains a new Arcane Tradition feature: Onomancy, the magic of true names.

 

[DEFCON 1]

But... But... I love Mounds and they haven't made of Mounds in my edition yet. People keep telling me I can just scrape the almonds out of my Almond Joy, but then people look at me funny and I'm losing some of the chocolate every time. They keep releasing Butterfinger, Snickers, and even a Payday... and I know Mounds is way more popular than Payday!

This is what M&M's Guild is for.

 

[Leatherhead]

Etc

WIS mod + X per day.
It's no longer free or unlimited healing, but enough to ruin the day of any red dragon that thinks you are an easy target.

 

[cbwjm]

Again we see spell lists that would be improved by reprinting some spells once it gets to print, like the previously mentioned Catnap.



I could swear they did... still, isn't Divine Strike late at 8th level? Martial classes get extra attack at Lv 5 (or extra Sneak Attack) and Cantrips upgrade at lv 5... so Clerics are expected to wade in melee as subpar damage dealer for three levels if they didn't invest enough to make their cantrips potent enough?

And even there, you have this guy who stands shoulder to shoulder with Fighters for five levels and then for three he just hangs back dropping Sacred Flame (AKA the most boring attack Cantrip ever...)...

I'm really not a fan of the 5e Cleric's base class. I think it tries to do too much at once and ends up half-baked. Is it a support frontline fighter or a back line caster? The Fire and Lightning of God guy in light amor should just have been a different class.

Yeah, I did find it a little late, even the upgrade at level 14 comes in 3 levels late. It ends up with a melee cleric being better pig with cantrips some levels and hitting things with your weapon on other levels.

I think out would have been better to split domain and combat ability for the cleric, something like how the warlock gains a pact at 3rd to further define them. You could have the two main builds be the potent caster and divine striker that alters how the base class plays.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Okay, from the perspective of mechanics, that works fine. But how do you justify it in the in-game fiction? For instance, what's the difference between sticking your hand into a campfire and having someone hold your hand in a campfire against your will?

I find answers that don't make the mechanics and fiction match up highly dissatisfying.

Flavor it as being a passive defense the Druid has no control over. The spirits won’t heal you with fire if you stick your hand in a fire, but they will if you are set on fire against your will.
Perfectly sensible flavor that makes sense regardless of the mechanics, but also happens to support the mechanics presented.

I'm pretty sure what they said in the video is that Rising with have Alchemist, Artillerist, and Battle Smith while the Warfinder's Guide will only have the Alchemist. Neither will offer Archivist at this point.

That would be extremely disappointing, perhaps even beyond disappointing. I’ll maintain hope it isn’t true until I’ve got both resources in front of me.

WIS mod + X per day.
It's no longer free or unlimited healing, but enough to ruin the day of any red dragon that thinks you are an easy target.

I’d rather not add another thing to track on this subclass, otherwise I’d be for that.

If I had to find something beyond what I described, I’d limit it to fire damage from magical sources, not including from cantrips, or base it on damage amounts so that it’s always risky to try and firebolt yourself.

 

[Leatherhead]

I’d rather not add another thing to track on this subclass, otherwise I’d be for that.

Fair enough. How about "When you are hit by fire damage, you may spend a Hit Die to heal yourself instead of taking damage."

 

[Undrave]

Yeah, I did find it a little late, even the upgrade at level 14 comes in 3 levels late. It ends up with a melee cleric being better pig with cantrips some levels and hitting things with your weapon on other levels.

I think out would have been better to split domain and combat ability for the cleric, something like how the warlock gains a pact at 3rd to further define them. You could have the two main builds be the potent caster and divine striker that alters how the base class plays.

That would be a cool idea yeah.

Maybe at first level you can choose between Martial Proficiency and an Extra cantrip? Or some other caster centric perk.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Fair enough. How about "When you are hit by fire damage, you may spend a Hit Die to heal yourself instead of taking damage."

That is a good alternative, if we gotta have a limited resource tied to it.

 

[cbwjm]

That would be a cool idea yeah.

Maybe at first level you can choose between Martial Proficiency and an Extra cantrip? Or some other caster centric perk.

I think something like that works well enough. I've made an altered life cleric domain which is essentially the caster version which replaces heavy armour proficiency with spare the dying and divine strike with potent cantrip as a basic difference between the two types. Players can pick either one depending on if they want to be behind the front lines supporting or in the front lines smacking things with their mace.

 

[cbwjm]

Fair enough. How about "When you are hit by fire damage, you may spend a Hit Die to heal yourself instead of taking damage."

I made an elemental fire fighter subclass that does this. They still take fire damage but it is mitigated by their fire resistance. At 18th level they full on immune to fire so if they are subjected to a fire spell they are able to just regain health by spending a hit die.

 

[Seramus]

This is what M&M's Guild is for.

Great Value and Equate? But then the cool kids won't want to hang out with me anymore.