Zardnaar
Legend
This thread is my thoughts on these new archetypes introduced in UA. This is the 1st time UA has interested me enough to review all of the new archetypes. Generally I look at new stuff from a power gaming PoV and if I would play it when one of my players DMs. What makes me qualified to review this stuff? Not a lot I play a lot of 5E and I also have a lot more archetypes due to 3pp than a few poasters I suspect so I have seen a lot such as 15 Druid archetypes. So make of that what you will.
Overall I liked this instalment of UA though good job to the design team.
Rangers.
In general the ranger is one of those classes people do not like that much. I think the Hunter Ranger however is fantastic although the class seems to reward you for playing an archer (hordebreaker+ sharpshooter, avoiding getting hit to keep concentration up on hunters quarry). I have also seen the Tempest Ranger in action from EN5ider. These rangers will mostly be compared with the hunter archetype in terms of how they stack up.
Horizon Walker.
An old 3.5 prestige class in 5E form.
Planar Magic
Basically you have a few more spells prepared none of which I am likely to use that often. Meh.
Planar Warrior
Bonus action d6 damage that is not concentration such as hunters quarry. Hunters do get extra damage however as a bonus action and a daily slot via hunters quarry. Damage advantage Hunter, but that doesn't mean its bad and this bonus damage doesn't require a spell slot or concentration. I prefer hordebreaker anyway due to the way it works with Sharpshooter feat if I was a Ranger anyway. So extra damage, no resources required, and its not situational and you get to ignore damage resistances which could be handy. Its probably situational enough though that the Hunter has an edge in damage but as I said I like the Green Paladin a lot even though the avenging Paladin beats it for damage. Lets see what else the class has to offer.
Portal Lore.
Fairly narrow use but in the right type of campaign it would be great. Not much else to say.
The Horizon Walker gets 3 abilities at level 3 vs the Hunters 1 ability as each ability is weaker than the PHB Hunter.
Ethereal Step
Bonus action cast this spell and become ethereal for a turn. Interesting twist on the Hunter agility to move around the battlefield but you avoid AoO altogather. This is a decent ability that is better but has limited uses being tied to the short and long rest mechanics. Still useful for a melee or ranged character so I like it.
Distant Strike.
Similar to the Hunter volley ability but this ability really rewards archers again. If there are multiple opponents it is almost a guaranteed 3rd attack a round for a ranger the downside is you can't focus fire. Still extra attacks with certain feats (sharpshooter) are always good. Not always going to be usable vs encounters with only 1 and 2 opponents so its not as reliable either. Which is fine as we do not really want Rangers to reliably make a 3rd attack. I like the ability.
Spectral Defense.
More or less a Rogues uncanny dodge except you get it at level 15. Great ability, comes a little late and hunters have the choice of picking up uncanny dodge.
Overall I think this is a good Ranger variant and holds up well against a Hunter Ranger and its abilities in some ways are very similar. Almost feels like a variant hunter rather than a variant Ranger. I think the class is playable if not good so gets my seal of approval.
Primeval Guardian
An adaption of the 4E Warden. I have been thinking about the warden lately and in 5E terms I was expecting resistances similar to the barbarian stapled onto the fighter with maybe some bonus hit points. So this one is interesting.
Guardian Magic
Know some more spells, these ones are a bit more useful than the Horizon walker list. More prepared spells are always nice.
Guardian Soul
A major part if not defining feature of this subclass. You become a treeman, gain a heap of hit points and 5' and become large. Not sure if this allows you to wield large weapons but either way the 5' movement speed I think is a very big drawback. The reach thing interacts with various other reach effects like Bugbears and polearms so there is that. Once again though the archer ranger gets rewarded over a melee one.
Piercing Thorns
This ability is great. An extra 1d6 bonus damage but it doesn't require a bonus action or anything. This means you can stack it with hunters quarry and deal +2d6 damage. Poor fighter gets hosed once again to level 11. As an added bonus this ability also works with bows so if you can use a 2d8 large bow its even better. Only applies once per turn but it is not conditional unlike colossus slayer which I has seen whiff a few times due to a lack of hurt opponents.
Ancient Fortitude.
Even more hit point in tree form. Bonus HP are always good.
Rooted Defence
Makes things difficult for the enemies. Radiate an entangle effct and gain a bucket of hp as a bonus action, seems good especially for a melee ranger.
Guardian Aura
More or less unlimited uses as long as your party is under half HP. Its not a lot of hit points at level 15 but hey it applies every round. Would have to test it out in actual play but I suspect this ability is good/annoying to the DM.
Overall I think this archetype is very good with only the 5' speed in tree from being a draw back. Can work as an archer as well (pretend you are firing thorns?) but actually rewards being a melee ranger as well. I like this archetype though and want to test it out to see how good or bad the Guardian form is in actual play with its 5' speed (sentinel feat?).
Scout
I was actually a fan of the 3.5 Scout Class in the Complete Adventurer. Unfortunately is was just worse than an archer ranger so can 5E do any better. I do not expect much from Rogue archetypes as the base class is fairly good.
Survivalist.
Expertise in 2 skills that are very useful outdoors. This means a Rogue can have expertise in 4 skills. I like this ability and not all of the Rogue archetypes have a great 3 level ability and I think this compares well with the Thief and Mastermind. Immediately caught the eye of my wife as she likes her skill based characters going back to 3.5 (she has a Mastermind Rogue atm). Myself I like the Ranger/Druid types going back to AD&D.
Skirmisher
Can't touch this. Looks great but you can only do this at an opponents end turn which unfortunately means they get an attempt to hit you. Still its free movement combined with expertise in 2 skills at level 3- I'll take it.
Superior Mobility.
I am a big fan of speed increases and this plays nice with the mobile feat and various races such as Tabaxi and Wood Elf along with the Rogues Cunning Action. When you can get your speed up to 50-100' a round its good and also helps mitigate things like a halflings slow speed.
Ambush Master
Often going 1st for a Rogue is not a great idea even for an assassin. This helps mitigate that and helps out the rest of the group and allows the group to try and kill NPCs 11st before they get to have a turn. I suspect in actual play this ability will be very good.
Sudden Strike
Lets you get in 2 sneak attacks a turn, 3 in a round. If the 1st attack hits this is better than dual wielding as you do not need a fighter level either to get your dexterity to damage part. Great ability but comes a little late but an extra potential 9d6 damage is always good.
So overall I like the scout and think its good. If I was going to play a Rogue I would roll one up tomorrow as I like the archetype and am kind of sick of the usual suspects (read thief).
Overall perhaps the best UA yet as each archetype actually looks perfectly playable or even good.
Overall I liked this instalment of UA though good job to the design team.
Rangers.
In general the ranger is one of those classes people do not like that much. I think the Hunter Ranger however is fantastic although the class seems to reward you for playing an archer (hordebreaker+ sharpshooter, avoiding getting hit to keep concentration up on hunters quarry). I have also seen the Tempest Ranger in action from EN5ider. These rangers will mostly be compared with the hunter archetype in terms of how they stack up.
Horizon Walker.
An old 3.5 prestige class in 5E form.
Planar Magic
Basically you have a few more spells prepared none of which I am likely to use that often. Meh.
Planar Warrior
Bonus action d6 damage that is not concentration such as hunters quarry. Hunters do get extra damage however as a bonus action and a daily slot via hunters quarry. Damage advantage Hunter, but that doesn't mean its bad and this bonus damage doesn't require a spell slot or concentration. I prefer hordebreaker anyway due to the way it works with Sharpshooter feat if I was a Ranger anyway. So extra damage, no resources required, and its not situational and you get to ignore damage resistances which could be handy. Its probably situational enough though that the Hunter has an edge in damage but as I said I like the Green Paladin a lot even though the avenging Paladin beats it for damage. Lets see what else the class has to offer.
Portal Lore.
Fairly narrow use but in the right type of campaign it would be great. Not much else to say.
The Horizon Walker gets 3 abilities at level 3 vs the Hunters 1 ability as each ability is weaker than the PHB Hunter.
Ethereal Step
Bonus action cast this spell and become ethereal for a turn. Interesting twist on the Hunter agility to move around the battlefield but you avoid AoO altogather. This is a decent ability that is better but has limited uses being tied to the short and long rest mechanics. Still useful for a melee or ranged character so I like it.
Distant Strike.
Similar to the Hunter volley ability but this ability really rewards archers again. If there are multiple opponents it is almost a guaranteed 3rd attack a round for a ranger the downside is you can't focus fire. Still extra attacks with certain feats (sharpshooter) are always good. Not always going to be usable vs encounters with only 1 and 2 opponents so its not as reliable either. Which is fine as we do not really want Rangers to reliably make a 3rd attack. I like the ability.
Spectral Defense.
More or less a Rogues uncanny dodge except you get it at level 15. Great ability, comes a little late and hunters have the choice of picking up uncanny dodge.
Overall I think this is a good Ranger variant and holds up well against a Hunter Ranger and its abilities in some ways are very similar. Almost feels like a variant hunter rather than a variant Ranger. I think the class is playable if not good so gets my seal of approval.
Primeval Guardian
An adaption of the 4E Warden. I have been thinking about the warden lately and in 5E terms I was expecting resistances similar to the barbarian stapled onto the fighter with maybe some bonus hit points. So this one is interesting.
Guardian Magic
Know some more spells, these ones are a bit more useful than the Horizon walker list. More prepared spells are always nice.
Guardian Soul
A major part if not defining feature of this subclass. You become a treeman, gain a heap of hit points and 5' and become large. Not sure if this allows you to wield large weapons but either way the 5' movement speed I think is a very big drawback. The reach thing interacts with various other reach effects like Bugbears and polearms so there is that. Once again though the archer ranger gets rewarded over a melee one.
Piercing Thorns
This ability is great. An extra 1d6 bonus damage but it doesn't require a bonus action or anything. This means you can stack it with hunters quarry and deal +2d6 damage. Poor fighter gets hosed once again to level 11. As an added bonus this ability also works with bows so if you can use a 2d8 large bow its even better. Only applies once per turn but it is not conditional unlike colossus slayer which I has seen whiff a few times due to a lack of hurt opponents.
Ancient Fortitude.
Even more hit point in tree form. Bonus HP are always good.
Rooted Defence
Makes things difficult for the enemies. Radiate an entangle effct and gain a bucket of hp as a bonus action, seems good especially for a melee ranger.
Guardian Aura
More or less unlimited uses as long as your party is under half HP. Its not a lot of hit points at level 15 but hey it applies every round. Would have to test it out in actual play but I suspect this ability is good/annoying to the DM.
Overall I think this archetype is very good with only the 5' speed in tree from being a draw back. Can work as an archer as well (pretend you are firing thorns?) but actually rewards being a melee ranger as well. I like this archetype though and want to test it out to see how good or bad the Guardian form is in actual play with its 5' speed (sentinel feat?).
Scout
I was actually a fan of the 3.5 Scout Class in the Complete Adventurer. Unfortunately is was just worse than an archer ranger so can 5E do any better. I do not expect much from Rogue archetypes as the base class is fairly good.
Survivalist.
Expertise in 2 skills that are very useful outdoors. This means a Rogue can have expertise in 4 skills. I like this ability and not all of the Rogue archetypes have a great 3 level ability and I think this compares well with the Thief and Mastermind. Immediately caught the eye of my wife as she likes her skill based characters going back to 3.5 (she has a Mastermind Rogue atm). Myself I like the Ranger/Druid types going back to AD&D.
Skirmisher
Can't touch this. Looks great but you can only do this at an opponents end turn which unfortunately means they get an attempt to hit you. Still its free movement combined with expertise in 2 skills at level 3- I'll take it.
Superior Mobility.
I am a big fan of speed increases and this plays nice with the mobile feat and various races such as Tabaxi and Wood Elf along with the Rogues Cunning Action. When you can get your speed up to 50-100' a round its good and also helps mitigate things like a halflings slow speed.
Ambush Master
Often going 1st for a Rogue is not a great idea even for an assassin. This helps mitigate that and helps out the rest of the group and allows the group to try and kill NPCs 11st before they get to have a turn. I suspect in actual play this ability will be very good.
Sudden Strike
Lets you get in 2 sneak attacks a turn, 3 in a round. If the 1st attack hits this is better than dual wielding as you do not need a fighter level either to get your dexterity to damage part. Great ability but comes a little late but an extra potential 9d6 damage is always good.
So overall I like the scout and think its good. If I was going to play a Rogue I would roll one up tomorrow as I like the archetype and am kind of sick of the usual suspects (read thief).
Overall perhaps the best UA yet as each archetype actually looks perfectly playable or even good.
Last edited:
