The 6th level feature is designed to be a ribbon feature as the real good thing this subclass gives at 6th level is the **Find Greater Steed** spell for use as an Apocalyptic Harbinger. Another note is that the 11th level feature giving critical hits to 19's and the nat 20 benefits to 19s to pact of the blade is to keep Pact of The Blade having a similar chance to critical hit to higher level Eldritch Blast. Also, due to just how massive the difference in power between the warlock subclasses is, I tried making it at around the strength of a non-multiclassed Hexblade, pretty strong but definitely not the strongest single class warlock subclass. Additionally I did design this subclass in mind when it comes to multiclassing. Basically every feature scales off of warlock level to avoid this being a too front loaded multiclass as you do already get a summonable steed friend.
Edit: It's also in theme because it can summon a steed boi with it's 1st level feature, perfect for any speedy race!
As the voting begins, I would like to give a bit of criticism (having just taken a look at this).
It’s an epic concept! I love to the stars the idea of a mounted warlock, a Fell Rider if you would.
Now the Four Horseman Warlock isn’t perfect, but that doesn’t leave it without good things. Multiple of its features are even balanced!
The find steed feature is cool, though it might need to be nerfed. Harbinger of Devastation is such an awesome ribbon.
But I’m not writing this to tell you everything you did right. So I’ll just jump into what went wrong in the spoiler below.
Three of the subclass features are centered on landing a Natural 20. That… is too many. Only 1 at most should depend on that 5% chance that a critical hit will happen, and definitely not the capstone.
I love the customization you added to the Apocalyptic Harbinger. However, it is a bit dense, so let’s go through it. First off, the accursed lance eldritch blast — you need to explain this better. Is there only one attack? Do the number of attacks increase with the number of blasts you would normally do?
Second, the Pact of the Tome customizer — is the mount casting the spell as though it had your levels, or is it casting it as a 1st-level spellcaster? Either way, it’s an ability that’s quite a bit too powerful. You should also specify a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action if you intend to keep this ability.
Third, the Pact of the Blade buff — too strong. Much too strong. At 1st level it’s innocent enough: a mere +1 to the mount’s AC, nothing important. But that stacks up: a +7 at levels 19 and 20. Quite a bonus without any elaboration as to how it’s given. Even with an explanation, it’s too powerful. I would recommend a flat +1 or +2.
Finally, the opportunity attack clause. I have one question. Why?
Moving on (and pretending that three abilities based on nat 20s is balanced), you seem to be focusing quite a lot on scaling with Warlock level. This, I would not recommend. Consider also using damage dice instead of set amounts of damage. (See the Barbarian’s Brutal Critical.)
P.S. the four horsemen include Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death. Not sure where conquest came from
You seem to have a favorite among the Pact Boons. In particular, the Pact of the Blade. However, Warlock subclasses are meant to be balanced for every Pact Boon. So, giving the Blade such a blatant buff (in the Ruination feature) is not advisable whatsoever. Additionally, having said feature affect ANY CREATURE within 30 feet of the target is way powerful. I’m not certain in this case how to fix it, but it needs a nerf.
Feast Upon Ruin is lackluster. With the benefits only occurring once about every 5 turns at 17th-level assuming you get 4 melee attacks off (same for 2 attacks with a pact weapon), they are… quite weak. A singular 5th-level spell slot, a 60-ft. Teleport, or a weak attack — it’s not very good at all. If you plan on keeping this ability, it’ll need a buff.
…this must all come off as ruinous criticism. I don’t mean to be mean, only to help. I really love your idea, and I want to see it in its best version. I have to thank you for making this in the first place. I never could have come up with the concept.
Might give some more feedback later when I find some time.
I am curious though, what is the formatting issue with my submission?
The fact that you have half a dozen submissions with nothing linking them so you need to click on a lot of links to get access to the whole of the 'brew. Lol.
Might give some more feedback later when I find some time.
I am curious though, what is the formatting issue with my submission?
The fact that you have half a dozen submissions with nothing linking them so you need to click on a lot of links to get access to the whole of the 'brew. Lol.
Didn't you see the connecting theme? Others have submitted groups of monsters in earlier iterations of the contest too.
Might give some more feedback later when I find some time.
I am curious though, what is the formatting issue with my submission?
The fact that you have half a dozen submissions with nothing linking them so you need to click on a lot of links to get access to the whole of the 'brew. Lol.
Didn't you see the connecting theme? Others have submitted groups of monsters in earlier iterations of the contest too.
Nonono its not the theme the lore was astounding. Its the fact it wasn't in one collated document.
Might give some more feedback later when I find some time.
I am curious though, what is the formatting issue with my submission?
The fact that you have half a dozen submissions with nothing linking them so you need to click on a lot of links to get access to the whole of the 'brew. Lol.
Didn't you see the connecting theme? Others have submitted groups of monsters in earlier iterations of the contest too.
Nonono its not the theme the lore was astounding. Its the fact it wasn't in one collated document.
That unfortunately is not possible in D&D Beyond, they do not allow links in a homebrew to another homebrew published in D&D Beyond, and of course there is no way to group homebrews together or something.
Might give some more feedback later when I find some time.
I am curious though, what is the formatting issue with my submission?
The fact that you have half a dozen submissions with nothing linking them so you need to click on a lot of links to get access to the whole of the 'brew. Lol.
Didn't you see the connecting theme? Others have submitted groups of monsters in earlier iterations of the contest too.
Nonono its not the theme the lore was astounding. Its the fact it wasn't in one collated document.
That unfortunately is not possible in D&D Beyond, they do not allow links in a homebrew to another homebrew published in D&D Beyond, and of course there is no way to group homebrews together or something.
I'm not arguing, just explaining that's why your marks are low in formatting.
Might give some more feedback later when I find some time.
I am curious though, what is the formatting issue with my submission?
The fact that you have half a dozen submissions with nothing linking them so you need to click on a lot of links to get access to the whole of the 'brew. Lol.
Didn't you see the connecting theme? Others have submitted groups of monsters in earlier iterations of the contest too.
Nonono its not the theme the lore was astounding. Its the fact it wasn't in one collated document.
That unfortunately is not possible in D&D Beyond, they do not allow links in a homebrew to another homebrew published in D&D Beyond, and of course there is no way to group homebrews together or something.
I'm not arguing, just explaining that's why your marks are low in formatting.
I see, sorry.
Very unfortunate that some people give such low votes for something that is out of my control. The alternative would have been a homebrewery or GMBinder document, but these have their own issues such as not working in Firefox...
Might give some more feedback later when I find some time.
I am curious though, what is the formatting issue with my submission?
The fact that you have half a dozen submissions with nothing linking them so you need to click on a lot of links to get access to the whole of the 'brew. Lol.
Didn't you see the connecting theme? Others have submitted groups of monsters in earlier iterations of the contest too.
Nonono its not the theme the lore was astounding. Its the fact it wasn't in one collated document.
That unfortunately is not possible in D&D Beyond, they do not allow links in a homebrew to another homebrew published in D&D Beyond, and of course there is no way to group homebrews together or something.
I'm not arguing, just explaining that's why your marks are low in formatting.
I see, sorry.
Very unfortunate that some people give such low votes for something that is out of my control. The alternative would have been a homebrewery or GMBinder document, but these have their own issues such as not working in Firefox...
Lol yeah. Fell for you, but take solace in that their flavour marks are insanely high.
In voting, am I allowed to give myself all 5's or would that be unfair?
There should really be a policy on this. IMO we shouldn't be able to give ourselves any rating, good or bad, and skip that portion of the form.
You’re technically allowed to, but you should probably either (1) not vote on your submission, or (2) rate it as you would any other submission, and as unbiasedly as possible.
A rule limiting people from voting on their submission altogether would probably be the best way to address this issue moving forward.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
In voting, am I allowed to give myself all 5's or would that be unfair?
There should really be a policy on this. IMO we shouldn't be able to give ourselves any rating, good or bad, and skip that portion of the form.
You’re technically allowed to, but you should probably either (1) not vote on your submission, or (2) rate it as you would any other submission, and as unbiasedly as possible.
A rule limiting people from voting on their submission altogether would probably be the best way to address this issue moving forward.
Agreed.
That’s all fine, but how would it be implemented? Google Forms doesn’t have any kind of function for that to my knowledge.
@BoringBard, your adventure was excellent! I normally dread reading adventures (and I admit I did skip a few bits) but this turned out to be something I might be interested in running! I tend to run long adventures and campaigns because I like to write a lot more than I like to read. I may make an exception for this one-shot soon...
This iteration of the competition had so many incredible entries! I felt like I wasn't being critical enough because of how well I felt they were made, turns out most of them were just that good this time!
Now that I've voted and can see the results so far, I would like to ask, out of curiosity and desire to improve my 'brewing, where Blazeguard's low Balance and Flavor scores and bind steed's low Flavor score came from, why they're as they are, and what I could have done to improve them.
Also, I definitely think we should implement a "don't rate yourself" policy. I'm pretty sure I can tell at least one entry whose creator voted for themselves....
Also also, good job, everyone. There were a whole lot of really good entries this time around.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
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As the voting begins, I would like to give a bit of criticism (having just taken a look at this).
It’s an epic concept! I love to the stars the idea of a mounted warlock, a Fell Rider if you would.
Now the Four Horseman Warlock isn’t perfect, but that doesn’t leave it without good things. Multiple of its features are even balanced!
The find steed feature is cool, though it might need to be nerfed. Harbinger of Devastation is such an awesome ribbon.
But I’m not writing this to tell you everything you did right. So I’ll just jump into what went wrong in the spoiler below.
Three of the subclass features are centered on landing a Natural 20. That… is too many. Only 1 at most should depend on that 5% chance that a critical hit will happen, and definitely not the capstone.
I love the customization you added to the Apocalyptic Harbinger. However, it is a bit dense, so let’s go through it. First off, the accursed lance eldritch blast — you need to explain this better. Is there only one attack? Do the number of attacks increase with the number of blasts you would normally do?
Second, the Pact of the Tome customizer — is the mount casting the spell as though it had your levels, or is it casting it as a 1st-level spellcaster? Either way, it’s an ability that’s quite a bit too powerful. You should also specify a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action if you intend to keep this ability.
Third, the Pact of the Blade buff — too strong. Much too strong. At 1st level it’s innocent enough: a mere +1 to the mount’s AC, nothing important. But that stacks up: a +7 at levels 19 and 20. Quite a bonus without any elaboration as to how it’s given. Even with an explanation, it’s too powerful. I would recommend a flat +1 or +2.
Finally, the opportunity attack clause. I have one question. Why?
Moving on (and pretending that three abilities based on nat 20s is balanced), you seem to be focusing quite a lot on scaling with Warlock level. This, I would not recommend. Consider also using damage dice instead of set amounts of damage. (See the Barbarian’s Brutal Critical.)
P.S. the four horsemen include Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death. Not sure where conquest came from
You seem to have a favorite among the Pact Boons. In particular, the Pact of the Blade. However, Warlock subclasses are meant to be balanced for every Pact Boon. So, giving the Blade such a blatant buff (in the Ruination feature) is not advisable whatsoever. Additionally, having said feature affect ANY CREATURE within 30 feet of the target is way powerful. I’m not certain in this case how to fix it, but it needs a nerf.
Feast Upon Ruin is lackluster. With the benefits only occurring once about every 5 turns at 17th-level assuming you get 4 melee attacks off (same for 2 attacks with a pact weapon), they are… quite weak. A singular 5th-level spell slot, a 60-ft. Teleport, or a weak attack — it’s not very good at all. If you plan on keeping this ability, it’ll need a buff.
…this must all come off as ruinous criticism. I don’t mean to be mean, only to help. I really love your idea, and I want to see it in its best version. I have to thank you for making this in the first place. I never could have come up with the concept.
Carry on, friend!
P.S. I have a cowboy warlock that would absolutely fit this subclass, which may be why I was so excited about it
Come participate in the Competition of the Finest Brews, Edition XXVIII?
My homebrew stuff:
Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, Feats, Subclasses.
I am an Archfey, but nobody seems to notice.
Extended Signature
Just voted! :-)
Might give some more feedback later when I find some time.
I am curious though, what is the formatting issue with my submission?
The fact that you have half a dozen submissions with nothing linking them so you need to click on a lot of links to get access to the whole of the 'brew. Lol.
Frequent Eladrin || They/Them, but accept all pronouns
Luz Noceda would like to remind you that you're worth loving!
Didn't you see the connecting theme? Others have submitted groups of monsters in earlier iterations of the contest too.
Nonono its not the theme the lore was astounding. Its the fact it wasn't in one collated document.
Frequent Eladrin || They/Them, but accept all pronouns
Luz Noceda would like to remind you that you're worth loving!
That unfortunately is not possible in D&D Beyond, they do not allow links in a homebrew to another homebrew published in D&D Beyond, and of course there is no way to group homebrews together or something.
I'm not arguing, just explaining that's why your marks are low in formatting.
Frequent Eladrin || They/Them, but accept all pronouns
Luz Noceda would like to remind you that you're worth loving!
I see, sorry.
Very unfortunate that some people give such low votes for something that is out of my control. The alternative would have been a homebrewery or GMBinder document, but these have their own issues such as not working in Firefox...
Lol yeah. Fell for you, but take solace in that their flavour marks are insanely high.
Frequent Eladrin || They/Them, but accept all pronouns
Luz Noceda would like to remind you that you're worth loving!
In voting, am I allowed to give myself all 5's or would that be unfair?
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.You can, I didn't vote at all on my submissions but that's because I didn't really like my stuff.
Frequent Eladrin || They/Them, but accept all pronouns
Luz Noceda would like to remind you that you're worth loving!
You’re technically allowed to, but you should probably either (1) not vote on your submission, or (2) rate it as you would any other submission, and as unbiasedly as possible.
A rule limiting people from voting on their submission altogether would probably be the best way to address this issue moving forward.
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
That’s all fine, but how would it be implemented? Google Forms doesn’t have any kind of function for that to my knowledge.
Come participate in the Competition of the Finest Brews, Edition XXVIII?
My homebrew stuff:
Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, Feats, Subclasses.
I am an Archfey, but nobody seems to notice.
Extended Signature
Ok guys, I listened to ya'll and skipped voting on my entry:)
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.@BoringBard, your adventure was excellent! I normally dread reading adventures (and I admit I did skip a few bits) but this turned out to be something I might be interested in running!
I tend to run long adventures and campaigns because I like to write a lot more than I like to read.
I may make an exception for this one-shot soon...
This iteration of the competition had so many incredible entries! I felt like I wasn't being critical enough because of how well I felt they were made, turns out most of them were just that good this time!
Sunday DM and creator of homebrew for both DMs and players. I do lots of conversions!
My best brews: Berserker (Fire Emblem - barbarian subclass) | Swordmaster (Fire Emblem - fighter subclass) | Deserter (background) | Flame Atronach (Skyrim - monster)
My Fire Emblem Conversion Thread
General homebrew links
Spells | Monsters | Magic Items | Backgrounds | Feats | Races | Subclasses
Now that I've voted and can see the results so far, I would like to ask, out of curiosity and desire to improve my 'brewing, where Blazeguard's low Balance and Flavor scores and bind steed's low Flavor score came from, why they're as they are, and what I could have done to improve them.
Also, I definitely think we should implement a "don't rate yourself" policy. I'm pretty sure I can tell at least one entry whose creator voted for themselves....
Also also, good job, everyone. There were a whole lot of really good entries this time around.
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.