Best Chronurgy/scribe. Call them S+, honestly I think they are too good in the sense that they outpace every other sub class by too much in a class that is either the strongest or 2nd strongest class in the game. Chronurgy has been gone over, but Scribe okay changing damage type is useful but really it does not come up often enough in most campaigns ive been in to make a huge difference, their level 6 ability is so stupidly good though I can't believe it got into print. You almost have arcane eye at will at level 6, and the ability to solve encounters entirely remotely. And that is just what people have come up day one. They are implying that it would even extend the range of your misty step out to 300 feet(I don't read it that way, but the first official article on them does) A GM can fix it type situation with them. But I am a lazy DM and don't want to have to.
Divination/bladesinger next tier. I'd of put bladesinger a tier down before tashas, post their patch this tier.
Enchanter, depending on campaign can fit right in with them, but magic resistance, charm resistance/immunity really hits them harder than others unless they cast more like a generalist in which case why are you playing an enchanter. But if you are not being blocked by charm immunity frequently their level 2,6,10 abilities are fantastic. The levle 14 one as well but it is one of the things where you are like that is great, I guess but I really needed it 12 levels ago. Being able to get away with it post campaign is eh.
Next tier, enchanter if campaign hampers them(that is how good I think their abilities are, even hampered by campaign only 1 tier down), evocation. war.
Next tier. Abjuration(personal bias as their gimmick is too defense focused and I feel active focuses are better. They probably mechanically are in the tier up with evocation/war.) necromancy, transmutation, graviturgy.
Bottom rung, conjuration/illusion. They both have the same huge flaw their real ability comes in at 14th level, they get nothing great up to then, if you play a race that starts with a feat, and take silent image at will via warlock invocation feat, dang that illusion ability is crazy at 14th.(I say race with feat as odds are 4.8, 12 are spoken for stats and concentration help) At will wall spells. Even without that level 1 wall spells, just completely changes fights. So, if you are playing a high level campaign which according to D&Ds research is rare, illusion may move into divination tier at that point, conjuration, assuming you use tashas summons war tier post 14.
This choosing also depends on the race your character have. I mean if your character is a tiefling, then the best option here is choosing either Enchantment or Illusion, due to the ""evil side"" of the race. If your character is a gnome, let's say you can choose Conjuration or Transmutation.
Just sharing my 2 cents about Necromancy: from levels 2 to 5, indeed, you are just a regular Wizard using a Joy Division t-shirt. From level 6 onwards, you can literally break the game.
I do agree that an undead army can slow down the combat, but it’s all about practice. I’m running with 4 skellies and it’s just fine.
One big thing that’s not overly highlighted: Undead Thralls also affects Summon Undead. Which makes your Ghostly Spirit superior to every other new Summon option from TCoE.
This choosing also depends on the race your character have. I mean if your character is a tiefling, then the best option here is choosing either Enchantment or Illusion, due to the ""evil side"" of the race. If your character is a gnome, let's say you can choose Conjuration or Transmutation.
Race can absolutely have a huge impact, as can background - the Eberron races and the Ravnica backgrounds change your wizard spell list, which fundamentally alters gameplay. You can combine the two with wizard schools to concoct incredibly surprising results, like how a mark of healing halfling from, say, the orzhov syndicate can be a transmuter and be shockingly hard to distinguish from a competent healer cleric - especially if they are a competent healer cleric from multiclassing into cleric for even more spells on tap.
Just sharing my 2 cents about Necromancy: from levels 2 to 5, indeed, you are just a regular Wizard using a Joy Division t-shirt. From level 6 onwards, you can literally break the game.
I do agree that an undead army can slow down the combat, but it’s all about practice. I’m running with 4 skellies and it’s just fine.
One big thing that’s not overly highlighted: Undead Thralls also affects Summon Undead. Which makes your Ghostly Spirit superior to every other new Summon option from TCoE.
I have yet to see it get close to breaking the game. Other than slowing it down. Maybe at some absurd level of skeletons it might but I am not sure it is more potent than just using those spells. Is 4 skeletons more valuable than a 3rd level spell such as a hypnotic patterns? Maybe, but I kind of doubt it in most games. There is some value in disposable allies, and its fairly consistent damage over the day. And yeah if stacked out a really long way, it can be a lot of extra damage. Probably 10 damage a round per 3rd level spell with their +4 to hit. Sounds like a lot but we've seen it all disappear in a single round as well. And given how many days it can take to build an undead horde, it really feels like an ability that works best for NPCs off camera. But I guess if you have a lot of off time to scour graveyards in your campaign, it can be pulled off on the regular. I'd rate it higher but far too many campaigns have issues with undead, sure its not required but most games put that in the obviously bad camp reducing your ability to use them. If your campaign lets you strut around with undead, like say a red wizard campaign I'd put them up a tier. But as is in the games I have played as one or ran with as a DM with a player who did use multiple slots summoning them. Not that great, they frequently got wiped out when the party got hit with an AoE and they were close enough to take the hit, or obliterated in a turn attempt, they had to be left out of towns and cities, were a pain in the ass to restock, all for a bit of extra consistent damage. There were fights where they absolutely turned the tide, but most fights they did very little.
As an aside I am not sure undead thralls works with the new summon spells. It triggers on creating an undead, personally I'd say summoning an undead is different.
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Best Chronurgy/scribe. Call them S+, honestly I think they are too good in the sense that they outpace every other sub class by too much in a class that is either the strongest or 2nd strongest class in the game. Chronurgy has been gone over, but Scribe okay changing damage type is useful but really it does not come up often enough in most campaigns ive been in to make a huge difference, their level 6 ability is so stupidly good though I can't believe it got into print. You almost have arcane eye at will at level 6, and the ability to solve encounters entirely remotely. And that is just what people have come up day one. They are implying that it would even extend the range of your misty step out to 300 feet(I don't read it that way, but the first official article on them does) A GM can fix it type situation with them. But I am a lazy DM and don't want to have to.
Divination/bladesinger next tier. I'd of put bladesinger a tier down before tashas, post their patch this tier.
Enchanter, depending on campaign can fit right in with them, but magic resistance, charm resistance/immunity really hits them harder than others unless they cast more like a generalist in which case why are you playing an enchanter. But if you are not being blocked by charm immunity frequently their level 2,6,10 abilities are fantastic. The levle 14 one as well but it is one of the things where you are like that is great, I guess but I really needed it 12 levels ago. Being able to get away with it post campaign is eh.
Next tier, enchanter if campaign hampers them(that is how good I think their abilities are, even hampered by campaign only 1 tier down), evocation. war.
Next tier. Abjuration(personal bias as their gimmick is too defense focused and I feel active focuses are better. They probably mechanically are in the tier up with evocation/war.) necromancy, transmutation, graviturgy.
Bottom rung, conjuration/illusion. They both have the same huge flaw their real ability comes in at 14th level, they get nothing great up to then, if you play a race that starts with a feat, and take silent image at will via warlock invocation feat, dang that illusion ability is crazy at 14th.(I say race with feat as odds are 4.8, 12 are spoken for stats and concentration help) At will wall spells. Even without that level 1 wall spells, just completely changes fights. So, if you are playing a high level campaign which according to D&Ds research is rare, illusion may move into divination tier at that point, conjuration, assuming you use tashas summons war tier post 14.
This choosing also depends on the race your character have. I mean if your character is a tiefling, then the best option here is choosing either Enchantment or Illusion, due to the ""evil side"" of the race. If your character is a gnome, let's say you can choose Conjuration or Transmutation.
My Ready-to-rock&roll chars:
Dertinus Tristany // Amilcar Barca // Vicenç Sacrarius // Oriol Deulofeu // Grovtuk
Just sharing my 2 cents about Necromancy: from levels 2 to 5, indeed, you are just a regular Wizard using a Joy Division t-shirt. From level 6 onwards, you can literally break the game.
I do agree that an undead army can slow down the combat, but it’s all about practice. I’m running with 4 skellies and it’s just fine.
One big thing that’s not overly highlighted: Undead Thralls also affects Summon Undead. Which makes your Ghostly Spirit superior to every other new Summon option from TCoE.
Race can absolutely have a huge impact, as can background - the Eberron races and the Ravnica backgrounds change your wizard spell list, which fundamentally alters gameplay. You can combine the two with wizard schools to concoct incredibly surprising results, like how a mark of healing halfling from, say, the orzhov syndicate can be a transmuter and be shockingly hard to distinguish from a competent healer cleric - especially if they are a competent healer cleric from multiclassing into cleric for even more spells on tap.
I have yet to see it get close to breaking the game. Other than slowing it down. Maybe at some absurd level of skeletons it might but I am not sure it is more potent than just using those spells. Is 4 skeletons more valuable than a 3rd level spell such as a hypnotic patterns? Maybe, but I kind of doubt it in most games. There is some value in disposable allies, and its fairly consistent damage over the day. And yeah if stacked out a really long way, it can be a lot of extra damage. Probably 10 damage a round per 3rd level spell with their +4 to hit. Sounds like a lot but we've seen it all disappear in a single round as well. And given how many days it can take to build an undead horde, it really feels like an ability that works best for NPCs off camera. But I guess if you have a lot of off time to scour graveyards in your campaign, it can be pulled off on the regular. I'd rate it higher but far too many campaigns have issues with undead, sure its not required but most games put that in the obviously bad camp reducing your ability to use them. If your campaign lets you strut around with undead, like say a red wizard campaign I'd put them up a tier. But as is in the games I have played as one or ran with as a DM with a player who did use multiple slots summoning them. Not that great, they frequently got wiped out when the party got hit with an AoE and they were close enough to take the hit, or obliterated in a turn attempt, they had to be left out of towns and cities, were a pain in the ass to restock, all for a bit of extra consistent damage. There were fights where they absolutely turned the tide, but most fights they did very little.
As an aside I am not sure undead thralls works with the new summon spells. It triggers on creating an undead, personally I'd say summoning an undead is different.