The subclass features were designed to take certain spells deemed B-tier or outright underwhelming, and make them either viable, maybe even competitive compared to the usual top choices. Further, Phantom Steed should be on the warlock's list of spells by default. It fits this class way more than the Wizard imho.
Other thematically fitting spells, i.E. Fear, Summon Undead, Fly, etc., which are on the Warlocks spell list, and a Pact of the Chain minion should round this up pretty nicely.
Addressing critics regarding overpowered, if I look at Valour Bards, and Bladesingers with CME, Coffeelocks flinging hexed Eldritch Blasts as a Magic Action, and Bonus Action, Wall of Force shenanigans, and whatever combos I'd say the ceiling is pretty high.
You should NEVER test for balance by comparing it to the broken builds, that's just not how balance works. Also, this subclass is WILDLY overpowered.
Casting Inflict Wounds for FREE, as a BONUS ACTION, UPCASTED, AND you gain temporary hit points, as a THIRD level feature? Horrifying.
Resistance to TWO COMMON damage types at third level? Really?
DOUBLING the potency of the overpowered Inflict Wounds feature at 6th level? Also, you already add your Cha bonus to spell attacks. (I noticed that this doesn't add to the 2024 inflict wounds, but some people still use 2014, and 2024 inflict wounds is awful, so I'm pretty sure some people use the old one. I would.)
Might of the Lich is really boring.
I need multiple bullet points to go over Gift of the Grave
You can use Drain Life with Blight, which is a LOT of damage, AND temp HP, AND the target gains Exhaustion.
IMMUNITY to poison is broken.
Starting 1 level after clerics get Regenerate, you get it for FREE, whenever you want.
You should NEVER test for balance by comparing it to the broken builds, that's just not how balance works. Also, this subclass is WILDLY overpowered.
Casting Inflict Wounds for FREE, as a BONUS ACTION, UPCASTED, AND you gain temporary hit points, as a THIRD level feature? Horrifying.
Resistance to TWO COMMON damage types at third level? Really?
DOUBLING the potency of the overpowered Inflict Wounds feature at 6th level? Also, you already add your Cha bonus to spell attacks. (I noticed that this doesn't add to the 2024 inflict wounds, but some people still use 2014, and 2024 inflict wounds is awful, so I'm pretty sure some people use the old one. I would.)
Might of the Lich is really boring.
I need multiple bullet points to go over Gift of the Grave
You can use Drain Life with Blight, which is a LOT of damage, AND temp HP, AND the target gains Exhaustion.
IMMUNITY to poison is broken.
Starting 1 level after clerics get Regenerate, you get it for FREE, whenever you want.
You can't die.
You should ALWAYS test for balance by comparing it to the best performing classes/subclasses/builds, because that's exactly how balance works. Apart from that, the aforementioned classes are powerful, but not broken.
- This subclass is 2024, otherwise I would have added it to the legacy ones. That includes using the 2024 Inflict Wounds spell, not the 2014. What players and DMs negotiate between them individually is not my concern. The rule of thumb though is, if something has been updated, that is to be used in stead of the outdated.
- Casting Inflict Wounds at level 3 would then be 3d10 necrotic, and still asking for a Con Save. That's an average of 16 damage on a failed save, 8 damage a successful one, thus a 12 damage average, and the same as THP. A Divine Strike is 2d8 (10) radiant damage, which is more reliable than necrotic, and without a save. The average THP is as much as Fiendish Vigor’s maxed false life hands out. Yes, it scales, with the cap reaching level 9, ensuring it not to go out of style, like many other feats of several official subclasses unfortunately do currently.
- The Aasimar race and the (2014) Shadar-Kai get necrotic resistance at level 1, the Tiefling and Flamekin / (2014) Fire Genasi races can have Fire resistance at level 1. The Oath of the Noble Genie Paladin can switch resistance between multiple common damage types, and grants it to anyone within the aura at lvl 7. If it's in combination with one of the aforemented races, they can have to common resistances at the same time. Can't see a problem here.
- Unholy Frenzy does not work with Inflict Wounds, as Inflict Wounds does not include a spell attack. You do get to add your CHA modifier until level 11/17, which provides a reasonable scale at Tier 3/4.
- As long as Might of the Lich is not being useless, that’s fine. Being able to reduce a creatures speed by 20ft with two successful Ray of Frost hits, .. or 2 exploding Ice Knifes with a 10ft radius, centered around the victim(s) might be boring, but potent enough to compete with other options.
Regarding Gifts of the Grave:
- Blight is 9d8 damage (5th spell level), that's an average of 41 damage on a failed save, and 20 damage on a successful one (and no exhaustion). Again, that's a Con save, thus not the best. Casters usually prefer spells with INT, WIS, and CHA saves.
- The UA Defiled Sorcerer also acquires Immunity to Poisened and Exhaustion, + his emamantion extension.
- Clerics get Divine Intervention at lvl 10, and Wish at lvl 20...for free.
- You can still die, and very easily. While being conscious at 0 Hit Points, you can still get attacked, and each successful hit, or damage dealt against you means another FAILED DEATH Save. At 3 failed Death Saves you are dead. Usually monsters turn away from unconscious PCs, in order to attack the remaining ones, yet you will still draw attention, unless you are (successfully) feigning death. And Radiant damage is the Achilles’ Heel.
Let me ask you this: Who in his right mind would currently use the 2024 Inflict Wounds, Blight, Contagion, Ice Knife...? Nobody? Exactly, Read the comment under the link please, or even better, do a playtest.
Addressing critics regarding overpowered, if I look at Valour Bards, and Bladesingers with CME, Coffeelocks flinging hexed Eldritch Blasts as a Magic Action, and Bonus Action, Wall of Force shenanigans, and whatever combos I'd say the ceiling is pretty high.
None of these gain resistance to two very common and low-resisted damage types at LEVEL 3. I can’t name a single class that gains permanent resistance to any damage type at that low of a level.
While a Wildheart Barbarian, formerly Totem Barbarian does not get permanent resistances at level 3, he gets way more of them, and he gets them fairly easily, and when it matters. An Emeral Gem Dragonborn Totem Warrior Barbarian effectively had resistance to all damage at lvl 3.
The Bladesinger at least has got access to Absorb Elements as soon as level 1. Not permanent, but easily accessible, when it counts.
You are still COMPLETELY wrong about balancing things by comparing them to EXPLOITS. If the intent of D&D was that things are balanced around Coffeelocks, then everything would be more powerful. Plus, a Coffeelock only gets more broken if you add overpowered Warlock pacts. Remember that CME was nerfed in an errata to make it less broken, so those builds aren't absurd anymore. They might still be powerful, but they certainly won't be pulling the 300+ damage a turn they did initially.
As for the resistances, go take a look at other Warlock pacts, and tell me which ones get resistances at level 3. Balance things by comparing them to other things of the same type.
You are still COMPLETELY wrong about balancing things by comparing them to EXPLOITS. If the intent of D&D was that things are balanced around Coffeelocks, then everything would be more powerful. Plus, a Coffeelock only gets more broken if you add overpowered Warlock pacts. Remember that CME was nerfed in an errata to make it less broken, so those builds aren't absurd anymore. They might still be powerful, but they certainly won't be pulling the 300+ damage a turn they did initially.
As for the resistances, go take a look at other Warlock pacts, and tell me which ones get resistances at level 3. Balance things by comparing them to other things of the same type.
You are the one, who is completely wrong. You center your argument around the Coffeelock, which i did mention NOT because of his ability to generate plenty of spell slots/sorcery points, but his ability to fling 2 Eldritch Blasts in ONE turn (MA+BA). Or against multiple targets go Chromatic Orb first, and throw an Eldritch Blast in one turn. It gets even crazier, if you go 2 level Warlock, 11 level Bard, rest Sorc. Now you can combine EB with CME (staying within 15ft of the targets that is. Spell Sniper helps)...and throw 2 of them in the same turn. Maybe I should have just said Sorlock to make it clear. And again, I mentioned others as well, which are definately not considered exploits.
Only the upcast of CME got nerfed. It still remains a very potent spell, and the nerf becomes more negligible the more attacks you can muster per turn. A single class Bladesinger or Valour Bard can come up with 4 attacks. It gets crazier, when you combine a Bladesinger with an Eldritch Knight, which can attack 4 or 5 times, depending on the build, can use two cantrips (Booming Blade) in one Attack Action (Bladesong plus War Magic), plus CME.
And who decides, what is an exploit, and what is 'as intended'? And since when do single classes have to be weaker than Multiclasses? Last time I checked multiclassing was supposed to make characters more flexible, not more specialised. Otherwise, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
You are still COMPLETELY wrong about balancing things by comparing them to EXPLOITS. If the intent of D&D was that things are balanced around Coffeelocks, then everything would be more powerful. Plus, a Coffeelock only gets more broken if you add overpowered Warlock pacts. Remember that CME was nerfed in an errata to make it less broken, so those builds aren't absurd anymore. They might still be powerful, but they certainly won't be pulling the 300+ damage a turn they did initially.
As for the resistances, go take a look at other Warlock pacts, and tell me which ones get resistances at level 3. Balance things by comparing them to other things of the same type.
You are the one, who is completely wrong. You center your argument around the Coffeelock, which i did mention NOT because of his ability to generate plenty of spell slots/sorcery points, but his ability to fling 2 Eldritch Blasts in ONE turn (MA+BA). Or against multiple targets go Chromatic Orb first, and throw an Eldritch Blast in one turn. It gets even crazier, if you go 2 level Warlock, 11 level Bard, rest Sorc. Now you can combine EB with CME (staying within 15ft of the targets that is. Spell Sniper helps)...and throw 2 of them in the same turn. Maybe I should have just said Sorlock to make it clear. And again, I mentioned others as well, which are definately not considered exploits.
Only the upcast of CME got nerfed. It still remains a very potent spell, and the nerf becomes more negligible the more attacks you can muster per turn. A single class Bladesinger or Valour Bard can come up with 4 attacks. It gets crazier, when you combine a Bladesinger with an Eldritch Knight, which can attack 4 or 5 times, depending on the build, can use two cantrips (Booming Blade) in one Attack Action (Bladesong plus War Magic), plus CME.
And who decides, what is an exploit, and what is 'as intended'? And since when do single classes have to be weaker than Multiclasses? Last time I checked multiclassing was supposed to make characters more flexible, not more specialised. Otherwise, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
You are still basing your subclass balance around the overpowered builds that are BANNED at some tables. You seem convinced that subclasses should be balanced around the strongest builds possible, but the OFFICIAL subclasses are not designed like that. If you balance subclasses around the overpowered builds, then you just make them EVEN BETTER, which means you have to make the other things better to keep up, and it will just loop like that until the end of time. ALL games have power outliers, and you CANNOT do anything about that. Content needs to be balanced around the TYPICAL way of playing, not how the powergamers play.
Are those builds banned IN GENERAL (by DND Beyond), or only by SOME individuals? If it is the latter that argument is not worth the bits for the letters. Classes, subclasses and multiclassing should be BALANCED AS A WHOLE. And I don't do that by taking the lowest common denominator, or do you want the BANNERET to be the Benchmark? Hopefully not! And WotC should NOT do so either.
Again, and hopefully for the last time. I can not make the subclass features be B or C tier, when they are supposed to fuel spells, which are considered being UNDERPERFORMING (look at the expanded spells list). Have you ever seen a player using Chill Touch on a REGULAR basis? Or the 2024 Inflict Wounds? Or Ice Knife? That's because these spells pale in comparison to certain other selections. What are Warlocks usually picking? There are two choices for consistency currently. Eldritch Blast, or Pact of the Blade, usually used with a Two-Handed Heavy Weapon...or sometimes Dual Wield. Plus the usual spells like Hunger of Hadar, or Synaptic Static, or Tasha's Hideous Laughter...
I've seen really overpowered homebrews. Overpowered, because they took top tier spells like Spirit Guardians, and made them even better. Then I could understand your argument. But not with trying to improve, what really can use improvement.
It'd actually be WotC's task to clean up this mess, by identifying the less desirable choices, and create subclasses that elevate these spells/abilities from underdog to A class, thus creating more REAL variety. Savvy?
Addendum: And for the record, the Blight spell should cause Exhaustion on a failed save by default, as this would a) make perfect sense, and b) would elevate the spell from D (or probably F) tier to C or even B tier.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/2654290-undead-pact
The subclass features were designed to take certain spells deemed B-tier or outright underwhelming, and make them either viable, maybe even competitive compared to the usual top choices. Further, Phantom Steed should be on the warlock's list of spells by default. It fits this class way more than the Wizard imho.
Other thematically fitting spells, i.E. Fear, Summon Undead, Fly, etc., which are on the Warlocks spell list, and a Pact of the Chain minion should round this up pretty nicely.
Addressing critics regarding overpowered, if I look at Valour Bards, and Bladesingers with CME, Coffeelocks flinging hexed Eldritch Blasts as a Magic Action, and Bonus Action, Wall of Force shenanigans, and whatever combos I'd say the ceiling is pretty high.
You should NEVER test for balance by comparing it to the broken builds, that's just not how balance works. Also, this subclass is WILDLY overpowered.
I need multiple bullet points to go over Gift of the Grave
You should ALWAYS test for balance by comparing it to the best performing classes/subclasses/builds, because that's exactly how balance works. Apart from that, the aforementioned classes are powerful, but not broken.
- This subclass is 2024, otherwise I would have added it to the legacy ones. That includes using the 2024 Inflict Wounds spell, not the 2014. What players and DMs negotiate between them individually is not my concern. The rule of thumb though is, if something has been updated, that is to be used in stead of the outdated.
- Casting Inflict Wounds at level 3 would then be 3d10 necrotic, and still asking for a Con Save. That's an average of 16 damage on a failed save, 8 damage a successful one, thus a 12 damage average, and the same as THP. A Divine Strike is 2d8 (10) radiant damage, which is more reliable than necrotic, and without a save. The average THP is as much as Fiendish Vigor’s maxed false life hands out. Yes, it scales, with the cap reaching level 9, ensuring it not to go out of style, like many other feats of several official subclasses unfortunately do currently.
- The Aasimar race and the (2014) Shadar-Kai get necrotic resistance at level 1, the Tiefling and Flamekin / (2014) Fire Genasi races can have Fire resistance at level 1. The Oath of the Noble Genie Paladin can switch resistance between multiple common damage types, and grants it to anyone within the aura at lvl 7. If it's in combination with one of the aforemented races, they can have to common resistances at the same time. Can't see a problem here.
- Unholy Frenzy does not work with Inflict Wounds, as Inflict Wounds does not include a spell attack. You do get to add your CHA modifier until level 11/17, which provides a reasonable scale at Tier 3/4.
- As long as Might of the Lich is not being useless, that’s fine. Being able to reduce a creatures speed by 20ft with two successful Ray of Frost hits, .. or 2 exploding Ice Knifes with a 10ft radius, centered around the victim(s) might be boring, but potent enough to compete with other options.
Regarding Gifts of the Grave:
- Blight is 9d8 damage (5th spell level), that's an average of 41 damage on a failed save, and 20 damage on a successful one (and no exhaustion). Again, that's a Con save, thus not the best. Casters usually prefer spells with INT, WIS, and CHA saves.
- The UA Defiled Sorcerer also acquires Immunity to Poisened and Exhaustion, + his emamantion extension.
- Clerics get Divine Intervention at lvl 10, and Wish at lvl 20...for free.
- You can still die, and very easily. While being conscious at 0 Hit Points, you can still get attacked, and each successful hit, or damage dealt against you means another FAILED DEATH Save. At 3 failed Death Saves you are dead. Usually monsters turn away from unconscious PCs, in order to attack the remaining ones, yet you will still draw attention, unless you are (successfully) feigning death. And Radiant damage is the Achilles’ Heel.
Let me ask you this: Who in his right mind would currently use the 2024 Inflict Wounds, Blight, Contagion, Ice Knife...? Nobody? Exactly, Read the comment under the link please, or even better, do a playtest.
None of these gain resistance to two very common and low-resisted damage types at LEVEL 3. I can’t name a single class that gains permanent resistance to any damage type at that low of a level.
While a Wildheart Barbarian, formerly Totem Barbarian does not get permanent resistances at level 3, he gets way more of them, and he gets them fairly easily, and when it matters. An Emeral Gem Dragonborn Totem Warrior Barbarian effectively had resistance to all damage at lvl 3.
The Bladesinger at least has got access to Absorb Elements as soon as level 1. Not permanent, but easily accessible, when it counts.
I might make some changes, though.
You are still COMPLETELY wrong about balancing things by comparing them to EXPLOITS. If the intent of D&D was that things are balanced around Coffeelocks, then everything would be more powerful. Plus, a Coffeelock only gets more broken if you add overpowered Warlock pacts. Remember that CME was nerfed in an errata to make it less broken, so those builds aren't absurd anymore. They might still be powerful, but they certainly won't be pulling the 300+ damage a turn they did initially.
As for the resistances, go take a look at other Warlock pacts, and tell me which ones get resistances at level 3. Balance things by comparing them to other things of the same type.
You are the one, who is completely wrong. You center your argument around the Coffeelock, which i did mention NOT because of his ability to generate plenty of spell slots/sorcery points, but his ability to fling 2 Eldritch Blasts in ONE turn (MA+BA). Or against multiple targets go Chromatic Orb first, and throw an Eldritch Blast in one turn. It gets even crazier, if you go 2 level Warlock, 11 level Bard, rest Sorc. Now you can combine EB with CME (staying within 15ft of the targets that is. Spell Sniper helps)...and throw 2 of them in the same turn. Maybe I should have just said Sorlock to make it clear. And again, I mentioned others as well, which are definately not considered exploits.
Only the upcast of CME got nerfed. It still remains a very potent spell, and the nerf becomes more negligible the more attacks you can muster per turn. A single class Bladesinger or Valour Bard can come up with 4 attacks. It gets crazier, when you combine a Bladesinger with an Eldritch Knight, which can attack 4 or 5 times, depending on the build, can use two cantrips (Booming Blade) in one Attack Action (Bladesong plus War Magic), plus CME.
And who decides, what is an exploit, and what is 'as intended'? And since when do single classes have to be weaker than Multiclasses? Last time I checked multiclassing was supposed to make characters more flexible, not more specialised. Otherwise, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
You are still basing your subclass balance around the overpowered builds that are BANNED at some tables. You seem convinced that subclasses should be balanced around the strongest builds possible, but the OFFICIAL subclasses are not designed like that. If you balance subclasses around the overpowered builds, then you just make them EVEN BETTER, which means you have to make the other things better to keep up, and it will just loop like that until the end of time. ALL games have power outliers, and you CANNOT do anything about that. Content needs to be balanced around the TYPICAL way of playing, not how the powergamers play.
Are those builds banned IN GENERAL (by DND Beyond), or only by SOME individuals? If it is the latter that argument is not worth the bits for the letters. Classes, subclasses and multiclassing should be BALANCED AS A WHOLE. And I don't do that by taking the lowest common denominator, or do you want the BANNERET to be the Benchmark? Hopefully not! And WotC should NOT do so either.
Again, and hopefully for the last time. I can not make the subclass features be B or C tier, when they are supposed to fuel spells, which are considered being UNDERPERFORMING (look at the expanded spells list). Have you ever seen a player using Chill Touch on a REGULAR basis? Or the 2024 Inflict Wounds? Or Ice Knife? That's because these spells pale in comparison to certain other selections. What are Warlocks usually picking? There are two choices for consistency currently. Eldritch Blast, or Pact of the Blade, usually used with a Two-Handed Heavy Weapon...or sometimes Dual Wield. Plus the usual spells like Hunger of Hadar, or Synaptic Static, or Tasha's Hideous Laughter...
I've seen really overpowered homebrews. Overpowered, because they took top tier spells like Spirit Guardians, and made them even better. Then I could understand your argument. But not with trying to improve, what really can use improvement.
It'd actually be WotC's task to clean up this mess, by identifying the less desirable choices, and create subclasses that elevate these spells/abilities from underdog to A class, thus creating more REAL variety. Savvy?
Addendum: And for the record, the Blight spell should cause Exhaustion on a failed save by default, as this would a) make perfect sense, and b) would elevate the spell from D (or probably F) tier to C or even B tier.