D&D 5E Unearthed Arcana: Drakewarden and Way of the Ascendant Dragon

We have a new UA available today, this time showcasing new monk and ranger dragon-themed subclasses, in the Way of the Ascendant Dragon and the Drakewarden, respectively.

Interesting to note that these are both dragon adjacent subclasses. Is this foreshadowing for an upcoming product? Or just coincidence?

 

[Bacon Bits]

Obvious strongly draconic flavors aside, these are in practice a Four Elements Monk and a Beast Master Ranger that don't suck.

Well, they suck a lot less certainly. Ranger still has the problem that Natural Explorer and Favored Enemy are first-class abilities by their cost to the class, but they often never come into play. And when they do their in-game effect is "nothing happens because you just avoid something bad that might not have happened anyways".

The Battle Smith Artificer rules are much better than the Beastmaster Ranger rules. However, the Drakewarden's bonus action requirement to direct the drake still means they're designing Rangers that are prevented from using two-weapon fighting along with their companion. I think "Drizzt still doesn't work" is a significant flaw, if not a critical one, in either the design itself or in the two-weapon fighting rules.

Like I'd be a fan of even saying, "When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you’re holding in one hand, and use your bonus action to direct your Drake, you can also attack with a different light melee weapon that you’re holding in the other hand as a part of that bonus action." Even if the class didn't get that until 5th level!

I just don't buy that it's A-OK for the ranger to use a two-handed weapon or sword & board and get the bonus damage from a companion, but two-weapon fighting is barred by this bonus action nonsense when the ranger trope is to use two weapons. Every time I look at it I'm reminded that the rules for two-weapon fighting should either not be a bonus action at all, or at the very least that it should not be a bonus action for characters with Extra Attack.

 

[DnD Warlord]

The Drakewarden is proof to me that the the Beastmaster subclass should have been split into multiple subclasses, on for each type of companion.

A Falconer
A Houndmaster
A "Drakewarden"
A Liontamer
A Beekeeper
A Ratking

I use the pact of chain warlock ability to make rangers “worg” by replacing familiar with “animal an equal level Druid could wild shape into”

 

[Undrave]

Depends what makes it into a hypothetical book on this theme, and that's the sticking point. MToF covered devils and demons. Volo's did mind flayers, beholders, hags, and giants. So that's some of the more obvious targets off the table. What's left?

As vincegetorix says, we might get archfey and elemental princes. They're a bit less well iconic but that leaves more room for new material. Maybe aboleths, or perhaps a more general chapter on ancient aberrations and terrors? All of those seem fertile ground for a subclass or two.

I feel like we already got tons of Fey classes and they gave up on Giant Soul Sorcerer... a few more aberrant subclasses could work I guess.

A few Elemental ones could work too...Maybe an Artificer or Wizard with a Slime companion?!

 

[Mistwell]

Meepo is one of my favorite NPCs. Largely because when we played through that module (on roll20 at the beginning of the pandemic) Meepo started off timid and unassuming. But then he kept rolling critical hits at clutch moments, and his self-image grew with every killing blow.

Meepo is one of the most "shared experience" NPCs for me. Our first 3e adventure was Sunless Citadel, and we loved it so much and loved him as an NPC so much. And then I'd hear others talk about him at conventions and online and in game stores. So when 5e came around, it was high on our list of adventures to run. So we did, a couple years ago, and it was just as good as it was when 3e came out. Meepo remains just as awesome of an NPC.

 

[Mistwell]

Well, they suck a lot less certainly. Ranger still has the problem that Natural Explorer and Favored Enemy are first-class abilities by their cost to the class, but they often never come into play. And when they do their in-game effect is "nothing happens because you just avoid something bad that might not have happened anyways".

The Battle Smith Artificer rules are much better than the Beastmaster Ranger rules. However, the Drakewarden's bonus action requirement to direct the drake still means they're designing Rangers that are prevented from using two-weapon fighting along with their companion. I think "Drizzt still doesn't work" is a significant flaw, if not a critical one, in either the design itself or in the two-weapon fighting rules.

Like I'd be a fan of even saying, "When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you’re holding in one hand, and use your bonus action to direct your Drake, you can also attack with a different light melee weapon that you’re holding in the other hand as a part of that bonus action." Even if the class didn't get that until 5th level!

I just don't buy that it's A-OK for the ranger to use a two-handed weapon or sword & board and get the bonus damage from a companion, but two-weapon fighting is barred by this bonus action nonsense when the ranger trope is to use two weapons. Every time I look at it I'm reminded that the rules for two-weapon fighting should either not be a bonus action at all, or at the very least that it should not be a bonus action for characters with Extra Attack.

All I ever wanted was a clarification that a pet continues to attack the same target every round after you've spent an action/bonus action to direct it to do that, until you spend another action/bonus action to tell it to do something else.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Last month we had two goth subclasses, and it was "oh, we are getting a Ravenloft book", now we have two dragon themed classes and it is "we are getting a Draconmicon book".

We are about to get Tasha's. There isn't going to be another splat book for three years/6e. We know there are only setting books and adventures coming in 2021. These subclasses are just being put out together because they have a related theme. They are not intended for any specific publication, they are just being put out to entertain fans, and so WotC has something in hand when the need a bit of extra crunch to pad something out.

They're putting out a classic setting next year, and possibly another MTG one, and probably another supplement that mixes DM and player facing content (Manual of the Planes or something else).

They don't have enough staffers on the payroll now to have them working on things that aren't intended for eventual publication.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

See, I'd say that's a strike against it. The core three aside, 5e hasn't recycled a single book title from previous editions. They've even blazed new trails on naming conventions for their books. So I'd be astonished to see them turn around and copy a name like that.

The Draconomicon of Meepo! (Since they're unlikely to do the Demonicon of Iggwilv this time around, which seems like a missed opportunity.)

 

[Chaosmancer]

I find myself agreeing with Leatherhead and Acerak about quite a few of the details about these classes. To get it out of the way, both classes are swimming in flavor, and flavor-wise I want them right now.

Mechanics.....

I think it is important to note that the main power of the Monk 3rd level is coming from that Breath of the Dragon. The ability to "for free" turn one of your attacks (let us say at 5th level a 1d8+4) into an AOE of 2d6? That is not bad. One thing I am curious about is on the potential to burn two uses to use it twice in the same turn. I don't think it would be too broken, but is would lay down some wide hurt.

Compared to that the elemental damage, draconic and re-roll are just sort of ribbons. Though I think I would have their monk weapons be able to deal the damage by 6th level.

Wings Unfurled? Yeah, just improve Step of the Wind to give it flight. In practice, that is what is going to happen, since needing flight more than three times a day is going to be rare. Honestly, I'd almost want to add something else here, but I can resist.

The aura is... thematically neat, but mechanically too weak. Most of my allies likely won't want to use their reaction, plus it only works if they get hit in melee or very close range, because the attacker has to be in the aura as well. Too easy for archers or even melee people who are 30 ft away from you to circumvent this, even if your ally is willing to use their reaction, and even if 1d8 was worth it.

Though, counter-point, group wide resistance to a common element is potentially very powerful. Everyone in 30 ft getting cold or fire resistance can turn a fight by itself. So maybe it is best to think of this as a buff spell, with a minor counter.

The ascendant Aspect.... I feel it is lacking. Sure, blindsight is fun, but everything else is just adding improvements to what you can already do. Now, granted, those are some nice improvements. Your AOE doing "burn" damage every turn to everything? Not bad, especially if you can use it twice and stack those, that could be very devastating. But the 4d10 from the daily aura is a little less impressive, especially since if you are using it for the resistance, at those levels most things dealing elemental damage are resistant or immune to it, making that a real hard set of damage to land.

Though, countering myself again, it doesn't say it has to be the same damage. So, you could set fire resistance and deal cold damage.



And now... the Dracowarden

Man I want to love these mechanics more.

The gift is a ribbon, and a decent on. The lack of spells hurts a lot. But the companion is just kind of bad.

First off, lasting only two hours is a severe limitation. You are going to end up spending at least one spell slot to get it back. Then, it lacks flight to start with, so it is basically just a scaley cat in terms of infiltration or utility. No stealth bonus, so that is going to be hard to do. So, this is purely combat pet, and it doesn't stack up.

First turn, (if not pre-summoned) is summon and bonus action have it attack for 1d6+2.
If it is already summoned then you can attack for, let's say 1d8+3+1d6+2 which is 13? Let's be kind, and say that you get that extra 1d6 from infusing the essence into an attack. So, 16.5.

Dual Wielding alone gets us 2d6+6 which is 13. If I am a hunter ranger I could get colussus slayer for 1d8 extra, bringing me to 17.5. If I could spend a spell slot and get hunter's mark, then by round two I've got 4d6+1d8+6 for 24.5.

And the Familiar never catches up in my opinion.

And like was said, everything in this subclass relies on your familiar being out, and it's hp is decent, starting at 20 and increasing by 5 every level isn't something to scoff at, but the AC isn't great. mediocre really.

And, let's look at the absolute best thing the Drake can do in combat. At 15th level you can use your bonus action to command it to attack for 3d6 damage. That is the max, at 17.5. While, Dual-wielding as a Hunter can get you 2d8+5 which is 14... by as early as 4th level if you roll stats and get a high dex. 13 guaranteed by 8th level no matter what.

The Fire Breath is neat, I won't deny it. I like that ability, but all the rest of it needs to be looked at again, because it is being billed as an offensive option, and it simply does not stack up at all.

 

[Aaron L]

They look fine to me. I'm actually not all that into dragons (ironic for a D&D player, I suppose... ) but they look interesting and seem fine mechanically.

 

[Chryssis]

Important note!:
This power isn't powerful at all (monk fists already break damage resistance at level 6) but it does ooze with flavor. One small tweak I would consider is letting the elemental damage apply with any monk weapon.

Breath of the Dragon
You can replace one of your attacks with a “breath weapon” that deals 2x (or 3x) your MA die damage in an AoE. While not that powerful (seriously, that's like 5 average damage at level 3, 7 at 5 level 5, and 13.5 at level 11) it does have a resource pool outside of the monk's inherent Ki pool, which is an awesome mechanic. Heck, once it's proprietary pool runs dry, you can dip back into the normal Ki pool if you absolutely need it.

What I am saying is that the resource mechanic is splendid, even if the AoE is a bit on the weaker side.

This is the only part i disagree with, it is effectively a minimum 2x better flurry of blows. I really like the free uses, and that you can then use ki to power it. however imo it should just replace your attack action not one of the attacks. Ie monk with 2 attacks. surrounded by whatever use breath weapon and attack 1-4+ (forget what the distance was on the cone) creatures for 2x martial dice plus 1 of those creatures for and additional 1x martial (with attack roll). -- PS that 2x martial is guaranteed damage, as at a minimum it is guaranteed hit for 1x martial against all those creatures. vs same monk flurry of blows hit 1 creature for 3x martial with attack rolls. If it were save for no damage i think that would be more appropriate, at least then you are risking your resource a bit.