Chose to take Drakewarden and had a few questions that don't seem to have clear solutions or answers...
Drake Companion
How long does the Drake last, or what is the spells/summon duration? Is there a time limit? I don't see one listed outside of... until it is reduced to 0 hit points, until you use this feature to summon the drake again, or until you die.
Infused Strike / Draconic Essence
Is infused strike once per round? or can it be used on every successful attack made per character/creature?
Are these two entirely separate things? Meaning... If a frost Drake uses Bite Attack, does it also inflict its draconic essence damage? OR is Infused Strike its only one time means of inflicting elemental damage/draconic essence? And if so, does that then mean the Drake can only infuse one attack per round with its essence, including it's own?
I'm assuming the answer is yes but then that would be weird to have a drake able to infuse another PCs attack with elemental damage but not it's own bite.
Drake lasts indefinitely unless you recall it or it drops to 0 HP.
Infused strikes uses up the drake's reaction. Drake only gets one reaction per round (like every creature in the game,) so by the transitive property, it only gets infused strikes once per round.
Drake cannot use infused strikes on itself. The text reads "when another creature..."
Drake's damage is simply 1d6+PB at first. At 7th and then later at 15th, it gets to add additional d6 damage of it's chosen type. But this is completely separate from infused strikes, which it cannot use on itself.
So by the end of it, the drake's damage will be 1d6+PB + 2d6 elemental, plus it can use it's reaction to grant an additional d6 to an ally once per round.
Chose to take Drakewarden and had a few questions that don't seem to have clear solutions or answers...
Drake Companion
How long does the Drake last, or what is the spells/summon duration? Is there a time limit? I don't see one listed outside of... until it is reduced to 0 hit points, until you use this feature to summon the drake again, or until you die.
Infused Strike / Draconic Essence
Is infused strike once per round? or can it be used on every successful attack made per character/creature?
Are these two entirely separate things? Meaning... If a frost Drake uses Bite Attack, does it also inflict its draconic essence damage? OR is Infused Strike its only one time means of inflicting elemental damage/draconic essence? And if so, does that then mean the Drake can only infuse one attack per round with its essence, including it's own?
I'm assuming the answer is yes but then that would be weird to have a drake able to infuse another PCs attack with elemental damage but not it's own bite.
In the playtest version, when the drake was summoned it was only around for a few hours. That's no longer the case, it's around until it dies, you die, or you summon it again(re-summoning an active drake could let you change its damage type, appearance, etc).
Infused Strike uses the drake's Reaction. Just like with players, once the drake uses their Reaction, they don't get use of their Reaction back until the start of their next turn.
Infused Strike cannot be used as part of the drake's attack. Look at the wording: "When another creature within 30 feet of the drake that it can see", it does not say "When the drake or another creature within 30 feet of the drake that it can see" It could be one of your attacks or one of your allies(if you're an archer, you might not be with 30' of the drake, but your party's tank could be). But the ability is specifically worded to let the drake boost someone else's attack, not its own. And it only works with weapon attacks, not spell attacks. So if a Wizard hits someone with a Fire Bolt, the drake couldn't use Infused Strike. But if an Eldritch Knight used Booming Blade, the drake COULD use Infused Strike since part of that spell involves making a melee weapon attack.
Just a off-topic tip: Drakewardens (and Beastmasters) can benefit big time from your spell list.
You can cast Entangle in the first round & command your pet to attack (hopefully with advantage because of Entangle) with your bonus action. If it is a Drake, you can still use Infused Strikes reaction alongside any ally nearby.
By level 2 onwards, just attack regularly. If possible from a safe distance looking for cover to protect your concentration.
This may be an obvious question but I wasn't sure.
The first round of combat, since you always go before your Drake, does that mean the Drake can't use its Reaction for Infused Strike on your first attack? Or, since its a Reaction, it can be used despite that the Drake has not had its official first turn yet?
You can take a reaction before your turn in the combat order unless you have been surprised. So unless the drake was surprised, it can take its reaction before it gets its turn in the first round of combat. You go, it uses its reaction, its turn starts, it gets its reaction back at the end of its turn and can use it again on your next turn or if you hit with an OA using your reaction.
Another way of thinking about is that you still have turns outside of combat, as you can still take actions, bonus actions, reactions etc., it's just that outside of initiative order they are less structured as it's up to your DM if they want to resolve several players at once, or resolve an hour for one player then jump back and resolve that same hour for everyone else and so-on.
For the purposes of combat I find it easier to assume there was one or more full rounds before the combat began; this is useful when the players are the ones springing an ambush or whatever and want a few moments to prepare first (i.e- activate spells and abilities that won't alert their targets), then you start. Some DMs may prefer to roll initiative right away in which case it's up to the players to decide "we attack on round 3" but I find that unnecessarily clunky compared to just saying "you can each take two non-combat turns before we begin", and then handle anything risky (e.g- moving into positions that require Stealth to avoid alerting the enemy).
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
I think it's just you. I've never heard of or seen that at all.
I always speak to my drake and often have him do reconnaissance on an area and report back to me.
In fact my DM likes to play him as a sniveling, petty, little imp who's personality constantly changes based on the colour/element/alignment I've chosen.
My DM always has him bad mouth the other party members but because I'm the only one who speaks draconic I always mis-translate what he says into something kind just to piss him off. It's often pretty hilarious.
The drakewarden is legit one of my favourite classes I've ever played. It's got soo much flavour, dynamics, potential and combat options, it's the most fun I've ever had playing DnD. Plus it's a great choice for small parties who could use an extra member.
I think it's just you. I've never heard of or seen that at all.
I always speak to my drake and often have him do reconnaissance on an area and report back to me.
In fact my DM likes to play him as a sniveling, petty, little imp who's personality constantly changes based on the colour/element/alignment I've chosen.
My DM always has him bad mouth the other party members but because I'm the only one who speaks draconic I always mis-translate what he says into something kind just to piss him off. It's often pretty hilarious.
The drakewarden is legit one of my favourite classes I've ever played. It's got soo much flavour, dynamics, potential and combat options, it's the most fun I've ever had playing DnD. Plus it's a great choice for small parties who could use an extra member.
I too am REALLY enjoying playing a Drakewarden. The drake makes a solid scout, especially when it can fly, a nice little damage boost each round, and a nice way to help my party's Fighter and Paladin flank creatures for advantage. I've had two genuinely laugh-out-loud moments with him. One, we were fighting a Gelatinous Cube, so I resummoned him with Acid immunity and parked him right in front of the cube, daring him to attack. Then just last session, we were in a nasty fight that had taken the drake down to 1HP. Our Wizard asked him what element he was, so I knowingly answered, "No, he won't be hurt when you cast Fireball". :) So as the Fireball exploded all around my 1HP drake, hitting all three of the undead near him, I let the group know that "the drake rears up on its hind legs, looking up joyously and spreading his front legs out like Tim Robbins on the Shawshank Redemption poster" :)
Lmao that's amazing. I've done many of the same things.
I often debate going into a battle, which element to choose because if you choose immunity then you likely can't do any extra damage. And if you choose damage you aren't immune so it's always a tough decision.
One funny thing I often do is when we're faced with a dangerous trap or portal or door/hole/entry. I always make him go first because he's literally only a wasted first level spell slot. So last game I commanded him into a portal that teleported him into a lake of acid. Luckily he was an acid dragon but he came back and said... Ya. Don't go that way.
It's not nice to make him the sacrificial goat, but I always convince him that he's the hero and far superior to us even God like so he can do the things we feeble mortals cannot. I stroke his ego and it makes it all better. But it's also hilarious seeing him die in multiple ways just to summon him back. He's like the Kenny of our group.
I often debate going into a battle, which element to choose because if you choose immunity then you likely can't do any extra damage. And if you choose damage you aren't immune so it's always a tough decision.
I'm at a high enough level that I get resistance to whichever element he has immunity for, so I tend to go with Fire unless I know what we're about to face. And yeah, also because we have a Wizard :) I specifically had my Ranger spend some of our downtime doing research on the more serious monster threats in the area, so I could switch him up based on what we run into without it being metagaming.
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Chose to take Drakewarden and had a few questions that don't seem to have clear solutions or answers...
Drake Companion
Infused Strike / Draconic Essence
Drake lasts indefinitely unless you recall it or it drops to 0 HP.
Infused strikes uses up the drake's reaction. Drake only gets one reaction per round (like every creature in the game,) so by the transitive property, it only gets infused strikes once per round.
Drake cannot use infused strikes on itself. The text reads "when another creature..."
Drake's damage is simply 1d6+PB at first. At 7th and then later at 15th, it gets to add additional d6 damage of it's chosen type. But this is completely separate from infused strikes, which it cannot use on itself.
So by the end of it, the drake's damage will be 1d6+PB + 2d6 elemental, plus it can use it's reaction to grant an additional d6 to an ally once per round.
In the playtest version, when the drake was summoned it was only around for a few hours. That's no longer the case, it's around until it dies, you die, or you summon it again(re-summoning an active drake could let you change its damage type, appearance, etc).
Infused Strike uses the drake's Reaction. Just like with players, once the drake uses their Reaction, they don't get use of their Reaction back until the start of their next turn.
Infused Strike cannot be used as part of the drake's attack. Look at the wording: "When another creature within 30 feet of the drake that it can see", it does not say "When the drake or another creature within 30 feet of the drake that it can see" It could be one of your attacks or one of your allies(if you're an archer, you might not be with 30' of the drake, but your party's tank could be). But the ability is specifically worded to let the drake boost someone else's attack, not its own. And it only works with weapon attacks, not spell attacks. So if a Wizard hits someone with a Fire Bolt, the drake couldn't use Infused Strike. But if an Eldritch Knight used Booming Blade, the drake COULD use Infused Strike since part of that spell involves making a melee weapon attack.
All really great stuff thank you for the clarification!
Just a off-topic tip: Drakewardens (and Beastmasters) can benefit big time from your spell list.
You can cast Entangle in the first round & command your pet to attack (hopefully with advantage because of Entangle) with your bonus action. If it is a Drake, you can still use Infused Strikes reaction alongside any ally nearby.
By level 2 onwards, just attack regularly. If possible from a safe distance looking for cover to protect your concentration.
This may be an obvious question but I wasn't sure.
The first round of combat, since you always go before your Drake, does that mean the Drake can't use its Reaction for Infused Strike on your first attack? Or, since its a Reaction, it can be used despite that the Drake has not had its official first turn yet?
You can take a reaction before your turn in the combat order unless you have been surprised. So unless the drake was surprised, it can take its reaction before it gets its turn in the first round of combat. You go, it uses its reaction, its turn starts, it gets its reaction back at the end of its turn and can use it again on your next turn or if you hit with an OA using your reaction.
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep
Another way of thinking about is that you still have turns outside of combat, as you can still take actions, bonus actions, reactions etc., it's just that outside of initiative order they are less structured as it's up to your DM if they want to resolve several players at once, or resolve an hour for one player then jump back and resolve that same hour for everyone else and so-on.
For the purposes of combat I find it easier to assume there was one or more full rounds before the combat began; this is useful when the players are the ones springing an ambush or whatever and want a few moments to prepare first (i.e- activate spells and abilities that won't alert their targets), then you start. Some DMs may prefer to roll initiative right away in which case it's up to the players to decide "we attack on round 3" but I find that unnecessarily clunky compared to just saying "you can each take two non-combat turns before we begin", and then handle anything risky (e.g- moving into positions that require Stealth to avoid alerting the enemy).
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Is it just me but do most people not realize that your Drake can talk (draconic only but still)
I think it's just you. I've never heard of or seen that at all.
I always speak to my drake and often have him do reconnaissance on an area and report back to me.
In fact my DM likes to play him as a sniveling, petty, little imp who's personality constantly changes based on the colour/element/alignment I've chosen.
My DM always has him bad mouth the other party members but because I'm the only one who speaks draconic I always mis-translate what he says into something kind just to piss him off. It's often pretty hilarious.
The drakewarden is legit one of my favourite classes I've ever played. It's got soo much flavour, dynamics, potential and combat options, it's the most fun I've ever had playing DnD. Plus it's a great choice for small parties who could use an extra member.
I too am REALLY enjoying playing a Drakewarden. The drake makes a solid scout, especially when it can fly, a nice little damage boost each round, and a nice way to help my party's Fighter and Paladin flank creatures for advantage. I've had two genuinely laugh-out-loud moments with him. One, we were fighting a Gelatinous Cube, so I resummoned him with Acid immunity and parked him right in front of the cube, daring him to attack. Then just last session, we were in a nasty fight that had taken the drake down to 1HP. Our Wizard asked him what element he was, so I knowingly answered, "No, he won't be hurt when you cast Fireball". :) So as the Fireball exploded all around my 1HP drake, hitting all three of the undead near him, I let the group know that "the drake rears up on its hind legs, looking up joyously and spreading his front legs out like Tim Robbins on the Shawshank Redemption poster" :)
Lmao that's amazing. I've done many of the same things.
I often debate going into a battle, which element to choose because if you choose immunity then you likely can't do any extra damage. And if you choose damage you aren't immune so it's always a tough decision.
One funny thing I often do is when we're faced with a dangerous trap or portal or door/hole/entry. I always make him go first because he's literally only a wasted first level spell slot. So last game I commanded him into a portal that teleported him into a lake of acid. Luckily he was an acid dragon but he came back and said... Ya. Don't go that way.
It's not nice to make him the sacrificial goat, but I always convince him that he's the hero and far superior to us even God like so he can do the things we feeble mortals cannot. I stroke his ego and it makes it all better. But it's also hilarious seeing him die in multiple ways just to summon him back. He's like the Kenny of our group.
I'm at a high enough level that I get resistance to whichever element he has immunity for, so I tend to go with Fire unless I know what we're about to face. And yeah, also because we have a Wizard :) I specifically had my Ranger spend some of our downtime doing research on the more serious monster threats in the area, so I could switch him up based on what we run into without it being metagaming.