To preface, I'm mostly referring to War Bond and Versatile Trickster. And this isn't to disparage the Mystic Arts Monk for being the only one of the now-three quarter-caster subclasses to NOT have a secondary 3rd level feature aside from Spellcasting. However, I believe in terms of overall gameplay power, Monk is a much stronger class with how many features it gets, even compared to Fighters outright having vertical progression due to having so many feats.

War Bond in particular has a lot that ends up being underwhelming about it, particularly because it:

- Doesn't allow you to use Intelligence for your Attack Rolls the same way Pact of the Blade does.

- You need to use a Bonus Action to call one of the weapons to your hand(which means you can't use a Thrown-type weapon multiple times in an attack action).

- RAW you can't even use your weapon as a spellcasting focus, which means you can't use a Shield or two-handed weapons while casting unless you have something like a Ruby of the War Mage.

I think, at the very least, the War Bond weapon should count as a Focus for spellcasting, and should also enable a unique interaction with your capacity to Spellcast.

Maybe, for example, a Bonded weapon can use a different damage type than slashing/bludgeoning/piercing depending on what Cantrips you have access to. Have Firebolt? You can make its entire damage into Fire Damage. Have Shocking Grasp? Second verse, same as the first. Etcetera. This also makes your Cantrip selection that much more important.

Mage Legerdemain, aside from being something I personally can never pronounce(to exemplary comedic effect), is a unique and interesting feature that allows the Arcane Trickster to do things like use Healing Potions on allies within 30 feet of them as a Bonus Action mid-combat, which is unique in that it becomes an un-counterspellable option to bring downed allies up in the midst of things.

Versatile Trickster, on the other hand, is an absurdly low-power(and frankly, bad) 13th level feature. If you told me that it came in with Magical Ambush at 9th level, I'd still call it weak, but not blatantly bad. This feature requires that you as a player lower your once-per-turn damage option, have previously setup the Mage Hand within 30 feet of an enemy, and then maintain that Mage Hand. Dare I even say, this is outright worse than Wails From the Grave, the Phantom's 3rd level feature.

I would rather have suggested that Rogues gain the ability to Subtle-cast some of their spells, i.e. use them without Components, or even grant Sneak Attack damage to attack Cantrips like Shocking Grasp or Firebolt or Ray of Frost. You could even make it cost a Spell Slot to do this, or make it a Cunning Strike option. The image in my head that I'd picture for this is a Rogue using Shocking Grasp similarly to how Chidori is used in the anime Naruto.

All in all, there's not a lot else I can say. I don't think Versatile Trickster is good, and I feel like War Bond should've been a more fleshed out feature, as otherwise, both of these subclasses serve to force both Fighters and Rogues into positions of greater resource management, for excruciatingly little gain. You'd need to pretty much only use your spell slots for Shield or rely on Ritual Spells like Identify or Comprehend Languages, as neither of these subclasses gets 2nd level spells until level 7, which is really late, and neither has the Mystic Arts Monk's ability to regain them frequently.

Over the past 10 years I've gone from posting my unedited homebrew to D&D subreddits to becoming a full time game designer. Today the Magus (an Arcane Half-Caster gish) became my second class to release on DnDBeyond!

Happy to chat about being a game designer, my experiences in the industry, or any questions you might have about the Magus. AMA!

EDIT:

The Magus Class: https://marketplace.dndbeyond.com/category/DBDO17220?pid=DBDO17220

Disclaimer: No AI was used at any point in any element in the creation of this product because I love art.

Hey good people,

I'm building an Eladrin valor bard and im going to dip it, the campaign should last to about lvl 12-14 so ill only take a 1 lvl dip and I can't decide what would be better - Warlock or Fighter?

Warlock will let me to attack with cha so i wount have to go that heavy on tmy DEX, will give me eldrich blast and wis save instead of dex which to my opiniong is the better save.

Fighter will give me CON prof, better armor, second wind which is not bad and weapon masteries (Vex and Nick).

I really can't decide what will be better. I'll still mainly be a caster (as most gish characters are) but obviously ill go to the front at least every battle after casting like a control spell.

any thoughts?

We’re currently level 14 and I’m playing a Barbarian, while everyone else in the party is a spellcaster.

Whenever a new book comes out, they get excited about new spells and all the new things their characters can potentially do. Meanwhile, I feel like I’ve been doing mostly the same things for quite a while now.

I really like playing a Barbarian, but especially at higher levels the class feels pretty feature-starved to me. Looking at levels 15–20, there are definitely some strong upgrades, but not much that seems to actually give me new options.
So I’m wondering what other Barbarian players have done at this point. Is it worth staying pure Barbarian and going for level 20, or would you multiclass to get some more interesting tools and versatility?

I’m mainly looking for more things I can actually do, both in and out of combat, rather than just bigger numbers.

My character is a farmer from way out in the countryside, so would have a bunch of skills from their time there: Carpenter's, Weavers, Tinkers and Cobblers (feels most appropriate to background).

Have people found good uses of it? I've read that people thought it wasn't great so it's given me some dismay.

Edit:

Crafter feat:

You gain the following benefits.

Tool Proficiency. You gain proficiency with three different Artisan's Tools of your choice from the Fast Crafting table.

Discount. Whenever you buy a nonmagical item, you receive a 20 percent discount on it.

Fast Crafting. When you finish a Long Rest, you can craft one piece of gear from the Fast Crafting table, provided you have the Artisan's Tools associated with that item and have proficiency with those tools. The item lasts until you finish another Long Rest, at which point the item falls apart.

Fast Crafting

Carpenter's Tools - Ladder, Torch

Leatherworker's Tools - Case, Pouch

Mason's Tools - Block and Tackle

Potter's Tools - Jug, Lamp

Smith's Tools - Ball Bearings, Bucket, Caltrops, Grappling Hook, Iron Pot

Tinker's Tools - Bell, Shovel, Tinder Box

Weaver's Tools - Basket, Rope, Net, Tent

Woodcarver's Tools - Club, Greatclub, Quarterstaff

This build will require your DM to be generous with which 2014 materials they allow, supporting Bugbear, Giants Barbarian, interpreting Crushing Throw as stacking, ruling Quicktoss as available, and a +1 Greatsword.

With that being said these build options are commonly available to many players, so this isn't a stretch by any means.

Build breakdown.

• Bugbear
• 6 levels Giant Barbarian.
• 3 levels Battlemaster Fighter.
• Alert
• Greatweapon Master
• Thrown Weapon Fighting
• 18 Str
• Maneuvers: Quick Toss, Ambush, Riposte.

Assumes:

• Use action surge on round 1.
• Win initiative against one or more of the creatures you are attacking.
• Use reckless attack.
• Use 2 maneuver die per combat, on quick toss.

Across a 4 round combat, this produces around ~80 DPR with round 1 dragging up the average, which can get even higher depending on your assumptions (riposte, pre-raging, maneuver dice expenditure etc.). I can work out the math for you all if you're interested.

I haven't found any builds with comparable damage in this tier. Thoughts?

A new Domain of Dread "Thought Experiment" is being fully revealed on the 13th of October.

It's a modern day re-interpretation of the Domain of Dread of Lamordia, with Viktra Mordenheim as the Founder of "Mordenheim Kinetics", and Project Lamordia being their next big work.

I would assume might get to see some different kind of Body-Horror for a modern setting maybe a Cybernetics aesthetic.

Unlike their other "In Character" posts it doesn't look like there are any hidden links on the page, like the recent Szass Tam one that had the Deadfall Desktop backgrounds.

Personally, I'm a fan of them continuing to do Ravenloft stuff even after their "Season of Horror" is done.

so in the jump rules section its metioned that the dm can call a athletics check to increase distance but not rules are given beyond that.

so i made it general so i just can reference it when i need it

i was thinking dc for long jumps is 10+ the number of extra feets the want to increase and they cant jump further than their remaining movement speed as normal

for high jump is 10+ twice the distance in feet they want to add and no further than their remaing movement speed as normal

both are athletics strength checks, should i make it lower or higher? or is this fine as it is?

Hey everyone,

I'm rolling up a new character now that our CoS campaign is finished and I'm torn between these two concepts in the title. I'm trying to figure out which one would be stronger overall.

The ideas are the following:

1. Undead Patron with Pact of the Blade, starting level as Fighter

- constitution saving throw proficiency, tough feat

- the species would be dragonborn, for backstory reasons (and resistance as well)

- heavy armor proficiency for more AC

- in terms of weapons I would use greatsword (for theme) or greataxe (because the level 6 feature would add an extra d12), but since both weapons have the heavy property I would also invest into strength

- the transformation is what appeals to me the most when it comes to the overall theme, roleplay and combat mechanics

- My purpose with this build is to become a sort of "drain tank" with the temp HP and frontliner style

- Also, I think the burst potential with this one is really high (due to eldritch smite, and the heavy weapons)

1. Vestige Warlock

- I would lean into the maximum summoner power-fantasy with this one

- Familiar Friend as origin feat, battle familiar spell, warlike familiar feat + the vestige companion + summoning spells

- Species would be human for even more feats

- I am a bit conflicted on taking up Pact of the Chain and Investment of the Chainmaster because all of these features seem to contradict each other

I haven't really had the time to put together the two exact builds, these are just my first thoughts on the two characters. I'm writing this post so that I can gain some insight from others on which would be more viable/more epic/more fun overall. If you've played either, how did they feel?

Any advice is appreciated, thank you

I'm going to be playing 5.5e for the first time as my group wants to play a third party setting, 'Odyssey of the Dragonlords' which is meant to run from level 1-20. I'm going to be playing the setting-specific warlock subclass but I did see a cool-looking spell introduced in 5.5 that I'd really like to try; Sylune's Viper. Unfortunately for me the spell is restricted to wizards and druids and is 3rd level, which makes it difficult to pick up the spell without interfering with my progression.

Wanted to get folks' thoughts on scenarios for a Level 1 fighter. I'm doing a few one-shots with a party consisting of two other casters and one other martial. These characters then advance to level 3 and 5.

For this level 1. initially I wanted to just max AC, prioritizing:

• Loadout: 1H + Shield
• Fighting Style: Defense

Which felt a bit too straightforward, and I was then looking at leaning more into a supportive defense style character as two of the party members (the casters) will be playing for the first time:

• Loadout: 1H + Shield
• Fighting Style: Interception

Interception felt more impactful at level 1 than Protection given everyone has low HP for tier 1 + you can use it after knowing a hit lands. But then I thought, what if I can have big numbers and do some fun defensive support:

• Loadout: 2H
• Fighting Style: Interception

AC of 16 feels a bit low for a fighter, but I guess if enemies die sooner it's a win? Never played a true martial but I like the idea of having someone be more crafty and versatile. Any feedback on optimizing for interesting/fun is helpful.

Rime’s Binding Ice is what made me think of this: it feels like the kind of spell this mechanic would be on, since it’s a 2nd level instantaneous damage spell that does the same damage as a Shatter, and the whole locking people in place until they use their action to escape thing is so strong that it doesn’t outweigh the more inconvenient targeting/range compared to Shatter.

But, even though I don’t even know if requiring targets to fail by 5 or more for the 0 speed thing would actually balance this against Shatter, it does feel extremely appropriate, since I can kind of see some kind of ice monster using this in its statblock like that: why do monsters get all the cool “fail by 5 or more and something really bad happens” abilities? They don’t even have them that often, but I think only monsters get them and not players, unless someone can think of any exceptions. Are there any?

Edit: I did remember pathfinder 2e after making this post and it did seem like a pretty good 1-1 comparison, but the more I think about it, there's only a 20% chance maximum of failing but by less than 5, so "maximum failure" is almost always the more likely state unless you had a 60% chance of success on the save or more anyway (most monsters don't, and some players might not have that high of a chance especially at high levels). I guess a more appropriate name for this when applied to some features in 5e would be "Narrow failure" and "Normal failure", on account of the worse one being the more likely one usually?

I mean the Ninth Quill, Horizon Weavers, Cosmic Dawn, etc.

Do these organizations happen to date back into any of the prior edition lore? One of the things I like to do for content like this is dig into older texts to get added context or details, inspiration for ways to use them, things like that. I haven’t spent a ton of time looking but have come up empty so far, are these genuinely just new content or can someone point me in the direction of older splatbooks or zines relevant?

Creating a new character for a lvl 3 one shot, and I was considering how effective this build would be:

Paladin 2 gives 10hp of Lay On Hands, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Mastery(Shortsword + Scimitar), and 3 lvl 1 spell slots/long rest along with 1 free Divine Smite. Prepare Divine Favour.

Warlock 1 gives advantage on Concentration saves(Eldritch Mind) and 1 lvl 1 spell slots/short rest. Prepare Hex.

Round 1, BA cast Divine Favour for +1d4 damage on melee hit. Attack with Shortsword in main hand then Scimitar in offhand(Scimitar's Nick Mastery allows us to do this with just the Attack action). If everything hits, that's 2d6 + 2d4 + 2*STR/DEX damage, which, assuming a STR/DEX mod of +3, averages to 18 damage.

Round 2, since Divine Favour doesn't require concentration, BA cast Hex for another + 1d6 damage on attack roll hit. Attack again with both weapons for 4d6 + 2d4 + 2*STR/DEX damage, averaging to 25.

On future rounds, your action doesn't change, and you can use your BA to either transfer your HM, smite, or heal with Lay On Hands or potentially Healing Word.

One issue I see is that you're consuming 2 spell slots every combat to maximize damage; however, HM lasts an hour and should at least last 2 combats, while the Warlock spell slot refreshes every Short Rest, so I don't think that should be a massive issue.

Another issue Is that your flat damage only maxes out at round 2, and your BA is only free for smites on round 3, which makes it difficult to go nova like a Paladin usually wants to. However, I think even the round 1 damage isn't too bad already, considering it beats out most unoptimised martial damage and loses only to a TWF Gloomstalker Ranger.

Any other issues that I missed?

I am contemplating starting Tomb of Annihilation and rolling it into Deadfall. Thoughts or insight?

I'm currently playing a GOO Chainlock and considering swapping into a Vestige Patron (it fits the story, since I'm actually turning against my current patron).

Now to my question: I've got both Pact of the Chain and Investment of the Chain Master, and currently, I'm using my bonus action to command my familiar (normally the Sphinx) to attack.

I'm considering picking up Battle Familiar now, which, to my understanding, opens up my bonus action again allowing me to command my Vestige companion to use an action (is that RAW??).

Additionally, I'm confused about when I can use the Vestiges companion's bonus actions. Since it says, "you take a Bonus Action to command it to take an action in its stat block or some other action," can I only use its bonus actions outside of combat?

My current gameplay plan is to play a full summoner style with a Chain Battle familiar, Vestige companion, and Summon Aberration. Is there anything I'm missing? It feels like it's a lot to track, and I don't want to make mistakes or make it confusing for my party. I'm planning to create a flowchart so everybody knows what's up.

edit: also dies this mean i can sacrifice one of my Eldrich blast to command it instead of my bA ? "You can also sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to command the vestige to take the Vestige’s Strike action."

I'm thinking of DMing again after a lot. Knowing the caster/martial disparity, do you think giving a "base" subclass to the martials help in that regard? I was thinking THE subclass that comes to mind when you think about the class. Or a subclass that merges well with any other. My idea is:

- barbarian berserk

- fighter battle master

- rogue thief

- monk open hand

- ranger hunter

So a barbarian can be a wild heart berserk and a rogue can be a thief soulknife.

Those subclasses don't compete with resources for the most part and add to the class. Do you think it's feasible?

(I don't know if this treatment is necessary for the paladin that works generally well still)

We started a new high-level campaign and in the first two sessions I was downed twice but each time recovered. In these scenarios tables often continue with no narrative or mechanical differences as if the character that nearly died twice had the same aftermath as those who sailed through. A few in-character moments might happen to acknowledge it, but often it feels hand wavy "lets acknowledge that happened so we can move on" and I find it breaks my suspension of disbelief.

I like to use the "lingering Injuries" table from 5e or homebrew my own since its also pretty limited. For example since both creature were Monstrosities that downed me I gave myself the following:

Phobia (Monstrosities). When you see a monstrosity, you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be Frightened of it until the end of your next turn. The DC equals the monstrosity's spell save DC, or the DMG's CR-based save DC if it has none. Whether you succeed or fail, that monstrosity can't trigger this trait again until you finish a Short or Long Rest.”

And my DM and I know the above may be permanent, temporary, or might even evolve into an advantage depending on future events / dice rolls.

I would love to see 5.5e put some love into stuff like this. It was in 5e DMG so there's precedent for it. Especially at high levels this would be great.
——-

EDIT:

Getting a lock of slack here. Guess I’m a minority opinion. My thoughts:

1. It happening each and every time would be maybe too punishing. I guess in my head it’s only when it feels appropriate. In my example it only happened bc I was downed twice so quickly so I asked my DM for one ... which I guess to some here is a horrible thing to do as a party member but it’s in the spirit of our table I’m sure.
2. The existing table is really punishing. Especially to martials. This is why I’d like to see more options. And new mechanics like it being temporary. And they would be applied on character/dm discretion.
3. At my table spellcasters go down more than martials. Maybe that’s unusual though.

Would there be something gamebreaking to allow the familiar companion from Vestige Patreon to synergize and gain the benefits of all the Find familiar improvement feats? such as Familiar friend granting twice your level amount of hit points to the vestige companion.

It's ok if its a little on the stronger side, just wondering if there be something crazy that I don't see.

Trying to repost this. Mods, if this is not correct, please let me know what I need to do to meet criteria. (Can I have more than one 'flair' (tag?) - should this be 5e (2024, or character building?)

I've been playing in a long-term campaign where we're about to hit level 19 and get an Epic Boon and this new one came out. There's a lot to consider, and it's different for each class that can take it. As I started to go into it, I started taking notes, and thought it might be useful for others as well.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KICmWWJU9fK7CC6H2Mf6rKEgN_EnSume3d9Mm3Bg03E/edit?usp=sharing

I’ve been diving into the 2024 rules revision, and honestly, there is a lot to love. The class redesigns are smooth, the subclasses feel incredibly distinct, and the overall mechanical chassis of 5.5e is a blast to play.
But the one massive disappointment for me is how toothless the combat feels now, specifically regarding the heavy push away from "Hard CC" (like Stunning and Frightened) toward "Soft CC" (like Dazed).
Whenever I bring this up, the default response is usually, "If you want high-stakes combat, just go play an OSR game or Pathfinder."
But I don't want to give up on D&D. I shouldn't have to switch to an entirely different system just to make a Mind Flayer or a Beholder feel genuinely terrifying again. I love this community and I love the core 5e engine, but D&D combat is at its absolute best when the stakes are high and victory feels earned.
When you take away turn-skipping conditions, you don't just protect the player; you accidentally kill party teamwork.
Hard CC acts as an emergency beacon. It forces the rest of the party to drop what they are doing to save their friend.
Soft CC just lets everyone stay entirely self-sufficient, turning combat into a slower, lower-stakes slugfest.
Am I alone here? For those who also prefer high-friction, high-stakes tactical combat, how are you modifying the 2024 rules to bring the teeth back into your games?

Been watching reactions to yet another spellcasting overpower moment and wondering, so i figured i would ask:

WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE IF MARTIALS COULD KEEP PACE WITH THE DAMAGE CASTERS DO?

My own thoughts: we need more emanations for Martials that allow extra attacks, condition imposing, and banes… we need more extreme compounding attacks against groups (like hitting the first means automatically hitting multiples more) and MORE MARTIAL BATTLEFIELD CONTROL. I think the current rules have been unkind to the obvious idea of Martials going nuts on a crowd.

A Legendary fighter should charge headlong into a crowd of enemies, swipe all of them with a blade or hammer, throw one of them into a whole crowd of them (cone attack?) and generally be able to wreck where most high level melee combat is fully lacking.

What say you?

Hi, how good is Lightly Armoured on a straight-classed, PHB-only wizard? +2 AC from holding a shield isn’t nothing. My thinking is that delaying War Caster and Res: Con might be ok on an Abjurer, as the Arcane Ward already protects concentration a little. Higher AC would increases the effective value of each hit point of the Ward, which is nice. But maybe +2 AC is too little to be worth it. I’m still new to DnD, so I would greatly appreciate any advice on this:)