We have a new UA release with two subclasses. The College of Spirits Bard is a fortune teller or spirit medium type character with a big random effect table. Meanwhile the Undeath Pact Warlock is a a do-over of the Undying Pact Warlock.
While summoning Undead mooks to provide support/flanking bonus in the middle of the total chaos that is happening.
That UA Eldritch Mind Invocation looking mighty fine for dat!!! Give it Revised Ranger/Might of the Master for Companion scaling and your Undead Buddy is GOLDEN!If we're going whole hog on the UA material, then let's dig out those alternative summoning spells from the Spells & Magic Tattoos UA. They're Concentration, so you'd want to invest in something to help make those checks, but some of the Undead Spirit options would make a really nice melee buddy.
My problem with Oath of Treachery is that it was actually called an Oath. It should've just been a Blackguard and gone from there.I get that, but like... I remember back when the UAs for the Xanathar’s Guide subclasses were making the rounds, I voted against the Oath of Treachery Paladin on the basis that we already have the Oathbreaker (as I’m sure many others did). And now I really wish I hadn’t because it never even got a second pass, and it was so much better as a mechanical expression of the concept of a Paladin who violated their Oath (as opposed to a Paladin sworn to an oath of evil, which is what the “Oathbreaker” seems like).
I get that, but like... I remember back when the UAs for the Xanathar’s Guide subclasses were making the rounds, I voted against the Oath of Treachery Paladin on the basis that we already have the Oathbreaker (as I’m sure many others did). And now I really wish I hadn’t because it never even got a second pass, and it was so much better as a mechanical expression of the concept of a Paladin who violated their Oath (as opposed to a Paladin sworn to an oath of evil, which is what the “Oathbreaker” seems like).
Also, despite the similar names, I feel like the Undead has a distinct story identity from the Undying. The latter feels like a lich in training - someone who made a pact with an undying being to extend their own life beyond its natural limits, while the former feels like someone who made a pact with a being that wields power over undeath for a measure of that power. Like the difference between giving your eye and hand to Vecna in exchange for the secret of lichdom vs giving your soul to Orcus in exchange for the power to wake the dead.
My problem with Oath of Treachery is that it was actually called an Oath. It should've just been a Blackguard and gone from there.
Oathbreaker to me is a Paladin who willfully and knowingly violated their Oath and decided to go full evil. Blackguard, on the other hand, would be cool if presented as a Paladin who believes they've been following their Oath and have justified increasingly questionable actions against their Oaths, and they've become so adept at lying that they believe their own lies as fact and are unaware of how far they have fallen. I think there's a lot of design space for that concept separate from Oathbreaker, but IMO the "Oath of Treachery" didn't handle it particularly well.
Maybe they just realized that it really, really sucks.But why? Has WotC forgotten that we already have the Undying Warlock.
We DO have Vampire, as a race/folk/PC/, for one of the Planeshift Articles. Continues to eye this Warlock SubclassInstead, it should have room for both Pact of the Blade style "Death Knights" and pact of the tome style "Liches-In-Training." And room for being a Vampire thrall.
That UA Eldritch Mind Invocation looking mighty fine for dat!!! Give it Revised Ranger/Might of the Master for Companion scaling and your Undead Buddy is GOLDEN!