Some features that I welcome with open arms. Some may have been in previous UAs already, but they are new to me.
1. Barbs can continue their rage with bonus action up to 10min. Yes, please! Berserker and more importantly Frenzy's ridiculous exhaustion punishment has been fixed. Well the whole frenzy feature has been revised. Double yes, please!
2. Wizards can prep unprepared spells with a ritual between rests. Wizards also get extra spells of their own school. Both are great IMO and make wizards stand out.
3. Sorcerers get a power boost. An actual +1 to DC and Adv to spell attacks 2 x LR, ability to use double metamagic option on a single casting at later levels. That is heavy and really makes sorcerers stand out, making them the nr 1 nukemachine. Also, sorcs get more spells at low levels. Yes please!
4. Fighter: Brawler. I love this. For some reason I have been into the idea of an improv weapon character for a long time. Now there is an actual subclass for that and it seems pretty nice too.
5. Warlock. Patron spells are Always Prepared. This is a big deal IMO, because them just being added to warlock list was a big letdown when you get so few spells that you probably can't reasonably take most of them anyways. Also, seems like more invocations. That is nice.
So you want a caster that is like every other caster? Play a different caster class!
There are choices other than "keep the class exactly the way it is in the 2014 release - largely failed" and "give it the same spell progression as wizards and sorcerers."
I don't often agree with Yurei, but she's right here. Pact magic is bad, and recharging a whole one spell slot is not letting us cast our spells more often. If they are going to go this route, they need more invocations to let us cast useful spells more regularly. The half caster version of the warlock was WAY better than the 2014 version. I'm pretty sure that most of you who talk about how great pact magic is don't play it. Pact magic is interesting, but it's not good. There are other aspects of warlock that are fantastic, but at their core, they are held back by pact magic.
If they are going to keep pact magic it needs to be revamped, not recycled from 2014.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
So you want a caster that is like every other caster? Play a different caster class!
There are choices other than "keep the class exactly the way it is in the 2014 release - largely failed" and "give it the same spell progression as wizards and sorcerers."
I don't often agree with Yurei, but she's right here. Pact magic is bad, and recharging a whole one spell slot is not letting us cast our spells more often. If they are going to go this route, they need more invocations to let us cast useful spells more regularly. The half caster version of the warlock was WAY better than the 2014 version. I'm pretty sure that most of you who talk about how great pact magic is don't play it. Pact magic is interesting, but it's not good. There are other aspects of warlock that are fantastic, but at their core, they are held back by pact magic.
If they are going to keep pact magic it needs to be revamped, not recycled from 2014.
That is the thing. They DID make invocations could cast more useful spells more often. They lowered the level of many at will spells AND gave out more invocations. Improved pact od the tome to also give a first level slot. And everyone has ritual casting now. It wasn't just magical cunning.
So you want a caster that is like every other caster? Play a different caster class!
There are choices other than "keep the class exactly the way it is in the 2014 release - largely failed" and "give it the same spell progression as wizards and sorcerers."
I don't often agree with Yurei, but she's right here. Pact magic is bad, and recharging a whole one spell slot is not letting us cast our spells more often. If they are going to go this route, they need more invocations to let us cast useful spells more regularly. The half caster version of the warlock was WAY better than the 2014 version. I'm pretty sure that most of you who talk about how great pact magic is don't play it. Pact magic is interesting, but it's not good. There are other aspects of warlock that are fantastic, but at their core, they are held back by pact magic.
If they are going to keep pact magic it needs to be revamped, not recycled from 2014.
pact magic isn't bad any more than half-caster was a martyr. people asked for more spells to cast but what it cost was becoming tied to long rests only. gross. Mystic Arcanum weren't ready to do that heavy lifting. getting rid of short rests was a noble goal, but but what do you really miss from half-caster? a few low level spell slots? then ask for that.
one Magical Cunning is too few. if they could do a quick UA-7.1 patch, i think this number would go up immediately.
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unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: providefeedback!
That is the thing. They DID make invocations could cast more useful spells more often. They lowered the level of many at will spells AND gave out more invocations. Improved pact od the tome to also give a first level slot. And everyone has ritual casting now. It wasn't just magical cunning.
I feel that I ought to point out how with UA5 and forward, many spell-like invocations were removed rather than added with the attempted Mystic Arcanum revision.
Yes, lowering the level of entry for several spell-vocations (I'm making this word a thing now) was a very welcome change. Most things that are gated at 15+ will very seldom see use in campaigns. However, UA7 gave at most a net 1 extra invocation, since the Pact Boon was now moved to invocations rather than a base class feature. Still, this was also a great thing. Invocations, more than pact magic, define the warlock in my opinion.
(And, yes, providing across-the-board ritual access was also a good thing. A change welcome for all spellcasters.)
On the whole? UA7 in the wake of UA5 can be considered a net loss in spell-vocation availability. I'm hoping this will be remedied with future books, just like Xanathar's and Tasha's gave a bunch of new invocation options. But to save a lot of page-space and future-proof the class, I'm hoping that there will just be a generic invocation that allows the warlock to pick a spell that they can use in a limited or free fashion, depending on the type of spell.
That is the thing. They DID make invocations could cast more useful spells more often. They lowered the level of many at will spells AND gave out more invocations. Improved pact od the tome to also give a first level slot. And everyone has ritual casting now. It wasn't just magical cunning.
I feel that I ought to point out how with UA5 and forward, many spell-like invocations were removed rather than added with the attempted Mystic Arcanum revision.
Yes, lowering the level of entry for several spell-vocations (I'm making this word a thing now) was a very welcome change. Most things that are gated at 15+ will very seldom see use in campaigns. However, UA7 gave at most a net 1 extra invocation, since the Pact Boon was now moved to invocations rather than a base class feature. Still, this was also a great thing. Invocations, more than pact magic, define the warlock in my opinion.
(And, yes, providing across-the-board ritual access was also a good thing. A change welcome for all spellcasters.)
On the whole? UA7 in the wake of UA5 can be considered a net loss in spell-vocation availability. I'm hoping this will be remedied with future books, just like Xanathar's and Tasha's gave a bunch of new invocation options. But to save a lot of page-space and future-proof the class, I'm hoping that there will just be a generic invocation that allows the warlock to pick a spell that they can use in a limited or free fashion, depending on the type of spell.
Ya still noting the miss of some spells on invocations that need to return.
pact magic isn't bad any more than half-caster was a martyr. people asked for more spells to cast but what it cost was becoming tied to long rests only. gross. Mystic Arcanum weren't ready to do that heavy lifting. getting rid of short rests was a noble goal, but but what do you really miss from half-caster? a few low level spell slots? then ask for that.
one Magical Cunning is too few. if they could do a quick UA-7.1 patch, i think this number would go up immediately.
Adding more Magical Cunning isn't going to fix the warlock. It's actually going to break the class more. 2014 Pactslots were designed to be evenly spread out spells throughout the day. They were given casting ability about equal to a fullcaster as well as cantrip damage equal to that of a martial. But in exchange for they had to pace themselves with short rests. While it sounds good in theory, in practice what ends up happening is:
Your group doesn't really use short rests due to things like shorter adventuring days/time-crunch/rp-reasons/etc. Thus your Warlock gets FAR fewer spells than intended.
Your party takes a short rest, however you are not out of Pactslots. As a result you essentially lost all your unexpended pactslots.
Your party feels crunched enough to avoid long rests, but can take short rests. As a result Warlock greatly outperforms every class in-game. (This is admittedly the rarest issue.)
Magic Cunning tries to address the first issue, but ignores the 2nd and makes the 3rd far more common. The 1st issue is also only somewhat helps with this. At the end of the day the best solution to these problems is to increase the number of slots they get, but greatly limit how many they can get back through short rests.
So you want a caster that is like every other caster? Play a different caster class!
Yeah! Nobody complaining about Pact Magic is doing so because they've played Warlock, liked it, but noticed flaws in how it functions and wants it improved. They just want to turn warlocks into wizards!!
So you want a caster that is like every other caster? Play a different caster class!
There are choices other than "keep the class exactly the way it is in the 2014 release - largely failed" and "give it the same spell progression as wizards and sorcerers."
I don't often agree with Yurei, but she's right here. Pact magic is bad, and recharging a whole one spell slot is not letting us cast our spells more often. If they are going to go this route, they need more invocations to let us cast useful spells more regularly. The half caster version of the warlock was WAY better than the 2014 version. I'm pretty sure that most of you who talk about how great pact magic is don't play it. Pact magic is interesting, but it's not good. There are other aspects of warlock that are fantastic, but at their core, they are held back by pact magic.
If they are going to keep pact magic it needs to be revamped, not recycled from 2014.
Pact magic is great, and people who don't like it should play something else. Removing what the majority of warlock players want for a small minority is a bad idea.
So you want a caster that is like every other caster? Play a different caster class!
There are choices other than "keep the class exactly the way it is in the 2014 release - largely failed" and "give it the same spell progression as wizards and sorcerers."
I don't often agree with Yurei, but she's right here. Pact magic is bad, and recharging a whole one spell slot is not letting us cast our spells more often. If they are going to go this route, they need more invocations to let us cast useful spells more regularly. The half caster version of the warlock was WAY better than the 2014 version. I'm pretty sure that most of you who talk about how great pact magic is don't play it. Pact magic is interesting, but it's not good. There are other aspects of warlock that are fantastic, but at their core, they are held back by pact magic.
If they are going to keep pact magic it needs to be revamped, not recycled from 2014.
Pact magic is great, and people who don't like it should play something else. Removing what the majority of warlock players want for a small minority is a bad idea.
pact magic is okay, and people who don't like it have options. ...including an official template for half-caster fun time for their own table.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: providefeedback!
So you want a caster that is like every other caster? Play a different caster class!
There are choices other than "keep the class exactly the way it is in the 2014 release - largely failed" and "give it the same spell progression as wizards and sorcerers."
I don't often agree with Yurei, but she's right here. Pact magic is bad, and recharging a whole one spell slot is not letting us cast our spells more often. If they are going to go this route, they need more invocations to let us cast useful spells more regularly. The half caster version of the warlock was WAY better than the 2014 version. I'm pretty sure that most of you who talk about how great pact magic is don't play it. Pact magic is interesting, but it's not good. There are other aspects of warlock that are fantastic, but at their core, they are held back by pact magic.
If they are going to keep pact magic it needs to be revamped, not recycled from 2014.
Pact magic is great, and people who don't like it should play something else. Removing what the majority of warlock players want for a small minority is a bad idea.
Honestly, how do we even know what the majority of warlock players want when the feedback surveys probably don't even reach many players of this game in general (as in, people who play the game casually with friends on weekends or something)?
Fine the vast majority of the people who responded to the survey which numbers in the 10s of thousands so a fairly decent sample size even if it is a selective sample.
Pact magic is great, and people who don't like it should play something else. Removing what the majority of warlock players want for a small minority is a bad idea.
While Half-casting was definitely an unpopular change, we can't really say that the majority don't want changes to Pact Magic. If the 2014 version was so loved, they wouldn't have tried completely changing it. Just look how little the first rogue UA changed from the 2014 version. In they video they were talking about how they barely change anything because the rogue had such good scores on all the surveys.
Also, your sentiment is kinda gatekeepy. Why not at least look at how to make a class a more universally enjoyable experience?
Pact magic is great, and people who don't like it should play something else. Removing what the majority of warlock players want for a small minority is a bad idea.
While Half-casting was definitely an unpopular change, we can't really say that the majority don't want changes to Pact Magic. If the 2014 version was so loved, they wouldn't have tried completely changing it. Just look how little the first rogue UA changed from the 2014 version. In they video they were talking about how they barely change anything because the rogue had such good scores on all the surveys.
Also, your sentiment is kinda gatekeepy. Why not at least look at how to make a class a more universally enjoyable experience?
It is the 3rd most popular class, its pretty universally loved. That does not mean people don't think it can't be improved. they just don't want it totally changed.
pact magic isn't bad any more than half-caster was a martyr. people asked for more spells to cast but what it cost was becoming tied to long rests only. gross. Mystic Arcanum weren't ready to do that heavy lifting. getting rid of short rests was a noble goal, but but what do you really miss from half-caster? a few low level spell slots? then ask for that.
one Magical Cunning is too few. if they could do a quick UA-7.1 patch, i think this number would go up immediately.
Adding more Magical Cunning isn't going to fix the warlock. It's actually going to break the class more. 2014 Pactslots were designed to be evenly spread out spells throughout the day. They were given casting ability about equal to a fullcaster as well as cantrip damage equal to that of a martial. But in exchange for they had to pace themselves with short rests.
While it sounds good in theory, in practice what ends up happening is:
Your group doesn't really use short rests due to things like shorter adventuring days/time-crunch/rp-reasons/etc. Thus your Warlock gets FAR fewer spells than intended.
Your party takes a short rest, however you are not out of Pactslots. As a result you essentially lost all your unexpended pactslots.
Your party feels crunched enough to avoid long rests, but can take short rests. As a result Warlock greatly outperforms every class in-game. (This is admittedly the rarest issue.)
Magic Cunning tries to address the first issue, but ignores the 2nd and makes the 3rd far more common. The 1st issue is also only somewhat helps with this. At the end of the day the best solution to these problems is to increase the number of slots they get, but greatly limit how many they can get back through short rests.
Magical Cunning gives half your pact slots back and only if they're all empty first. one slot [and later two], once per long rest. why not just give us a once a day free patron spell and be done? because adding available casts is poweful. because Magical Cunning is not meant for emergencies or 'nova' damage schemes. the one minute casting time makes real clear this is not to be attempted in combat or in some zack morris time-out just before initiative. it's a refill in the moments after battle when you can't rest but you can't be unprepared either. gotta rest some time, but not just now. and if you were wrong about having even just one brief minute, then things can interrupt your ritual: rising frigid water, lowering spikes, falling rocks, curious rats, voices around the corner, a pudding you didn't see, biting insects, party drama, encroaching plot... so many devious things!
this Magical Cunning is a fig leaf. at the end of the day, this Magical Cunning is still mother-may-i.
this Magical Cunning isn't breaking warlocks who remainshort rest dependent and remain unlikely to 'waste' pact slots outside of battle. and it would neither break them nor fix them completely if there were another one. but if there was an invocation to pick up an additional Magical Cunning, I'd consider taking that over an invocation that provided a permanent free 2nd-level spell slot. because I don't want to increase the number of spell slots I get (that might hyperbole my warlock more). power creep is real.
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unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: providefeedback!
I'm replacing my current lvl 10 transmutation wizard with the UA version for playtesting, starting today. It seems to fix the things that I've wanted to fix for a while. This new wizard honestly seems like a pure improvement.
I made some very specific character creation frames for this run, to avoid past problems. I decided that I will use "telekinetic"-style or transmutation spells whenever possible. Only picked very few of the usual optimal spells.
I wanted to create a Harry Potter style wizard. You know, how they have a magical trick for every household chore or problem.
But I still ran into a bit of a problem. I still ended up having to prepare quite optimal spells simply for survival's sake. The stakes are so high. Luckily my spell choices still make the character different from my past wizards.
Memorize Spell fixes still splendidly, making my wizard more of a wizard. I can prep the necessary spells and then use Memorize to take those fun Transmutation quirk spells for utility situations whenever needed. :)
So you want a caster that is like every other caster? Play a different caster class!
There are choices other than "keep the class exactly the way it is in the 2014 release - largely failed" and "give it the same spell progression as wizards and sorcerers."
I don't often agree with Yurei, but she's right here. Pact magic is bad, and recharging a whole one spell slot is not letting us cast our spells more often. If they are going to go this route, they need more invocations to let us cast useful spells more regularly. The half caster version of the warlock was WAY better than the 2014 version. I'm pretty sure that most of you who talk about how great pact magic is don't play it. Pact magic is interesting, but it's not good. There are other aspects of warlock that are fantastic, but at their core, they are held back by pact magic.
If they are going to keep pact magic it needs to be revamped, not recycled from 2014.
Pact magic is great, and people who don't like it should play something else. Removing what the majority of warlock players want for a small minority is a bad idea.
Pact magic is not great, even a little. It's what you're stuck with presently when you decide you want other good features such as invocations and eldritch blast. I highly doubt the majority of warlock players like when their groups don't want to take short rests because it doesn't make narrative sense. Or your DM doesn't let you take a short rest because it doesn't make narrative sense.
I suspect that the feedback submitted was by players who think that pact magic is unique and interesting (this is certainly true) but have never played it to understand the limitations that come with it.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
So you want a caster that is like every other caster? Play a different caster class!
There are choices other than "keep the class exactly the way it is in the 2014 release - largely failed" and "give it the same spell progression as wizards and sorcerers."
I don't often agree with Yurei, but she's right here. Pact magic is bad, and recharging a whole one spell slot is not letting us cast our spells more often. If they are going to go this route, they need more invocations to let us cast useful spells more regularly. The half caster version of the warlock was WAY better than the 2014 version. I'm pretty sure that most of you who talk about how great pact magic is don't play it. Pact magic is interesting, but it's not good. There are other aspects of warlock that are fantastic, but at their core, they are held back by pact magic.
If they are going to keep pact magic it needs to be revamped, not recycled from 2014.
Pact magic is great, and people who don't like it should play something else. Removing what the majority of warlock players want for a small minority is a bad idea.
Pact magic is not great, even a little. It's what you're stuck with presently when you decide you want other good features such as invocations and eldritch blast. I highly doubt the majority of warlock players like when their groups don't want to take short rests because it doesn't make narrative sense. Or your DM doesn't let you take a short rest because it doesn't make narrative sense.
I suspect that the feedback submitted was by players who think that pact magic is unique and interesting (this is certainly true) but have never played it to understand the limitations that come with it.
Oh no, it IS very limiting, but that's different from it being cool and having potential. The designers are taking a very surface level "they loved this so more of it" or they had problems with this so let's scrap it altogether..." approach
I have read the UA Playtest 7 but have not actually fully understood it.
some initial thoughts.
Barbarian - Eh still doesn't scale to t3 or t4 but then again DnD doesn't really scale to t3 or t4;
I love how they got rid of the exhaustion condition to Berserker subclass. The damage increase is o.k. but extra non-bonus attacks would be better. Especially 2 non-bonus extra attacks. A berserker barb swinging their weapon 4x per round while in a frenzy would be an awesome sight indeed.
Ygg Barb??????????? Why? just why? The only merit to this subclass is the ability to say in the middle of the game "GET OVER HERE!" and then play the Mortal Combat scream in the back ground.
Path of the Wild Heart - Meh. For Bear since we only get two resistances why not include all damage types in the mix. Why exclude psychic and force damage?????? Also picking the the two resistance types at the beginning of your rage would be better if you are only going to get two.
Fighter -
I like the extra Second Winds and the expanded use of them.
Weapon Mastery - I would rather have a two weapons get 3 tricks than six weapons with one trick. Also I want to pick the tricks out of all possible tricks not just specific for a single weapon. I think it would be cool to see a character justify the topple trick on a dagger. May be "I run up to the monster and whack them on the head with the pommel of my knife!"
Battle Master - From a players point of view Relentless is AWESOME! from a Dm it is broken. You get a trick every turn no matter what. You could blow all six of your tricks on the first two turns of combat then use Relentless to do a trick every turn after that. What happened to the action economy????? If people are complaining that they don't have enough dice for tricks, find a way to add dice. A suggestion is Relentless adds a number of dice equal to your proficiency modifier rounded down to your total number of dice. If you have no dice when initiative is rolled you get four dice. You get to do more tricks but some elements of the action economy are maintained.
Brawler - Where to begin. No armor class adjustment????? So every Brawler goes through the trouble of wearing full plate armor but leaves the useful weapons behind??????? No shield encouragement????? Where is the Captain America build I have been longing to have????? Also the brawny assumption is hurtful. Jackie Chan might be crying right now. Why not allow the player to chose strength or dexterity for the subclass. Another idea create an ability for AC call it Brawlers Boost - when not wearing armor your AC is 10 plus constitution plus the damage stat you chose when you picked the subclass (strength or dexterity) you can use this ability with a shield. You could make a Wrestler type character no armor no weapons just pluck and the power of your body slam, A captain america shield slinging hero of the people, or a gladiator that picks up a stone and cracks their opponents head open with it.
Champion - I admit I slept through reading this one.
Eldritch Knight - no comment due to extreme ignorance of the facts.
Sorcerer - More work needs to be done to make this a separate class from the wizard. Meta-magic is o.k. but most wizard spells are good as written. Going up against a fire immune monster? Cone of Cold, Lightning Bolt, etc.
Careful Spell - Wizards should not target their friends anyway
Distance Spell - Most spell ranges are fine as is.
Empowered spell - Alright this one is cool.
Extended spell - Most Spell durations are fine. Now if the first sorcerer point spent removed concentration but kept the listed duration, that would be something. Extending that non-concentration duration with more spent points would be awesome.
Quickened Spell - This one confuses me. What it should do but doesn't seem to is allow a sorcerer to cast two or more spells at the same time but somehow doesn't do that very well. I realize allowing a sorcerer to use their bonus action, their action, and their reaction to cast three spells all at once would be awesome but Quicken Spell does not do that. Spell casters in general can already cast a spell with a bonus action cantrip.
Seeking Spell - Another bite at the "to hit" apple. I like it and admit wizards don't get to do that.
Subtle Spell - What????? This doesn't really do anything mechanically. Now if it removed all need for a material component, that would be worth it. It specifically excludes gp cost components or consumed components. Wizards carry components on them anyway so nothing to see here. The some they can re-use some get consumed. This meta-magic ability doesn't help there. There is nothing in the rules that says a Wizard can't whisper the verbal parts and hide the somatic parts of a spell. Unless the spell description includes "Must perform the full body Robot Dance Move" of course.
Twinned Spell - So you spend a sorcery point rather than a spell slot? Big deal.
The sub classes were minor tweaks to the 2014 rules so meh.
Warlock - I really want to like Warlocks. One of my Favorite Fantasy Characters is Elric of Melnibone and I have been dying to play a dark brooding spell caster that traffics in the darkest foulest magics and then swings a hell-sword in combat. The Warlock class doesn't seem to be that or at least not very well.
My idea - get rid of pact magic completely. Don't do a spell list either. Lean into Invocations. Give the Warlock something like 20 Invocations. I like using Invocations for pact boons. The Warlock would still have a pact with a greater being just no pact spells. Invocations could be used to cast spells. By putting together different combinations of Invocations a character could make either a formidable spell caster or s warrior with decent magical ability. Allow the Invocations to modify feat rules so that they could take the Magic Initiate feat more than once. Also use the idea from past UAs and allow Invocations to cast higher level spells instead of Mystical Arcanium.
In general the Warlock sub-classes were o.k. improvements to the 2014 stuff.
What is confusing is what counts as a Warlock Cantrip for Agonizing Blast and how many dice does it affect. Say my Warlock uses Magic Initiate feat to get the Sorcerers Burst cantrip and then uses Agonizing Blast on it. At 17th level would the damage be 4d8 +5 or 1d8+5 x 4? My gut tells me it would be 4d8 +5 but the wording is plural which might me multiple dice get modified. Also Magic Initiate might not transform a Sorcerer Spell into Warlock Spell but if it did, a Wizard could use Sorcerer's Burst to get a meta-magic effect on a damaging cantrip.
Wizards- I like them but not much was changed.
I still believe that the sorcerer and the wizard classes should be folded together or made radically different from each other. meta-magic alone really doesn't do the job (see my above comments)
Sorcerer - More work needs to be done to make this a separate class from the wizard. Meta-magic is o.k. but most wizard spells are good as written. Going up against a fire immune monster? Cone of Cold, Lightning Bolt, etc.
Careful Spell - Wizards should not target their friends anyway
Distance Spell - Most spell ranges are fine as is.
Empowered spell - Alright this one is cool.
Extended spell - Most Spell durations are fine. Now if the first sorcerer point spent removed concentration but kept the listed duration, that would be something. Extending that non-concentration duration with more spent points would be awesome.
Quickened Spell - This one confuses me. What it should do but doesn't seem to is allow a sorcerer to cast two or more spells at the same time but somehow doesn't do that very well. I realize allowing a sorcerer to use their bonus action, their action, and their reaction to cast three spells all at once would be awesome but Quicken Spell does not do that. Spell casters in general can already cast a spell with a bonus action cantrip.
Seeking Spell - Another bite at the "to hit" apple. I like it and admit wizards don't get to do that.
Subtle Spell - What????? This doesn't really do anything mechanically. Now if it removed all need for a material component, that would be worth it. It specifically excludes gp cost components or consumed components. Wizards carry components on them anyway so nothing to see here. The some they can re-use some get consumed. This meta-magic ability doesn't help there. There is nothing in the rules that says a Wizard can't whisper the verbal parts and hide the somatic parts of a spell. Unless the spell description includes "Must perform the full body Robot Dance Move" of course.
Twinned Spell - So you spend a sorcery point rather than a spell slot? Big deal.
My idea - get rid of pact magic completely. Don't do a spell list either. Lean into Invocations. Give the Warlock something like 20 Invocations. I like using Invocations for pact boons. The Warlock would still have a pact with a greater being just no pact spells. Invocations could be used to cast spells. By putting together different combinations of Invocations a character could make either a formidable spell caster or s warrior with decent magical ability. Allow the Invocations to modify feat rules so that they could take the Magic Initiate feat more than once. Also use the idea from past UAs and allow Invocations to cast higher level spells instead of Mystical Arcanium.
I still believe that the sorcerer and the wizard classes should be folded together or made radically different from each other. meta-magic alone really doesn't do the job (see my above comments)
Well, since you put it that way.... just let the warlock keep their cantrips as well.
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Some features that I welcome with open arms. Some may have been in previous UAs already, but they are new to me.
1. Barbs can continue their rage with bonus action up to 10min. Yes, please! Berserker and more importantly Frenzy's ridiculous exhaustion punishment has been fixed. Well the whole frenzy feature has been revised. Double yes, please!
2. Wizards can prep unprepared spells with a ritual between rests. Wizards also get extra spells of their own school. Both are great IMO and make wizards stand out.
3. Sorcerers get a power boost. An actual +1 to DC and Adv to spell attacks 2 x LR, ability to use double metamagic option on a single casting at later levels. That is heavy and really makes sorcerers stand out, making them the nr 1 nukemachine. Also, sorcs get more spells at low levels. Yes please!
4. Fighter: Brawler. I love this. For some reason I have been into the idea of an improv weapon character for a long time. Now there is an actual subclass for that and it seems pretty nice too.
5. Warlock. Patron spells are Always Prepared. This is a big deal IMO, because them just being added to warlock list was a big letdown when you get so few spells that you probably can't reasonably take most of them anyways. Also, seems like more invocations. That is nice.
Finland GMT/UTC +2
My thought about playtest 7 and 6 and 5 and 4 and 3 is ...
I'll wait daggerheart.
I don't often agree with Yurei, but she's right here. Pact magic is bad, and recharging a whole one spell slot is not letting us cast our spells more often. If they are going to go this route, they need more invocations to let us cast useful spells more regularly. The half caster version of the warlock was WAY better than the 2014 version. I'm pretty sure that most of you who talk about how great pact magic is don't play it. Pact magic is interesting, but it's not good. There are other aspects of warlock that are fantastic, but at their core, they are held back by pact magic.
If they are going to keep pact magic it needs to be revamped, not recycled from 2014.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
That is the thing. They DID make invocations could cast more useful spells more often. They lowered the level of many at will spells AND gave out more invocations. Improved pact od the tome to also give a first level slot. And everyone has ritual casting now. It wasn't just magical cunning.
pact magic isn't bad any more than half-caster was a martyr. people asked for more spells to cast but what it cost was becoming tied to long rests only. gross. Mystic Arcanum weren't ready to do that heavy lifting. getting rid of short rests was a noble goal, but but what do you really miss from half-caster? a few low level spell slots? then ask for that.
one Magical Cunning is too few. if they could do a quick UA-7.1 patch, i think this number would go up immediately.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
I feel that I ought to point out how with UA5 and forward, many spell-like invocations were removed rather than added with the attempted Mystic Arcanum revision.
Yes, lowering the level of entry for several spell-vocations (I'm making this word a thing now) was a very welcome change. Most things that are gated at 15+ will very seldom see use in campaigns. However, UA7 gave at most a net 1 extra invocation, since the Pact Boon was now moved to invocations rather than a base class feature. Still, this was also a great thing. Invocations, more than pact magic, define the warlock in my opinion.
(And, yes, providing across-the-board ritual access was also a good thing. A change welcome for all spellcasters.)
On the whole? UA7 in the wake of UA5 can be considered a net loss in spell-vocation availability. I'm hoping this will be remedied with future books, just like Xanathar's and Tasha's gave a bunch of new invocation options. But to save a lot of page-space and future-proof the class, I'm hoping that there will just be a generic invocation that allows the warlock to pick a spell that they can use in a limited or free fashion, depending on the type of spell.
Ya still noting the miss of some spells on invocations that need to return.
A level 18 Eldritch Knight being somewhat silly is fine. It's level 18. Everything is silly.
Adding more Magical Cunning isn't going to fix the warlock. It's actually going to break the class more. 2014 Pactslots were designed to be evenly spread out spells throughout the day. They were given casting ability about equal to a fullcaster as well as cantrip damage equal to that of a martial. But in exchange for they had to pace themselves with short rests. While it sounds good in theory, in practice what ends up happening is:
Magic Cunning tries to address the first issue, but ignores the 2nd and makes the 3rd far more common. The 1st issue is also only somewhat helps with this.
At the end of the day the best solution to these problems is to increase the number of slots they get, but greatly limit how many they can get back through short rests.
Yeah! Nobody complaining about Pact Magic is doing so because they've played Warlock, liked it, but noticed flaws in how it functions and wants it improved. They just want to turn warlocks into wizards!!
Pact magic is great, and people who don't like it should play something else. Removing what the majority of warlock players want for a small minority is a bad idea.
pact magic is okay, and people who don't like it have options. ...including an official template for half-caster fun time for their own table.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
Fine the vast majority of the people who responded to the survey which numbers in the 10s of thousands so a fairly decent sample size even if it is a selective sample.
While Half-casting was definitely an unpopular change, we can't really say that the majority don't want changes to Pact Magic. If the 2014 version was so loved, they wouldn't have tried completely changing it. Just look how little the first rogue UA changed from the 2014 version. In they video they were talking about how they barely change anything because the rogue had such good scores on all the surveys.
Also, your sentiment is kinda gatekeepy. Why not at least look at how to make a class a more universally enjoyable experience?
It is the 3rd most popular class, its pretty universally loved. That does not mean people don't think it can't be improved. they just don't want it totally changed.
Magical Cunning gives half your pact slots back and only if they're all empty first. one slot [and later two], once per long rest. why not just give us a once a day free patron spell and be done? because adding available casts is poweful. because Magical Cunning is not meant for emergencies or 'nova' damage schemes. the one minute casting time makes real clear this is not to be attempted in combat or in some zack morris time-out just before initiative. it's a refill in the moments after battle when you can't rest but you can't be unprepared either. gotta rest some time, but not just now. and if you were wrong about having even just one brief minute, then things can interrupt your ritual: rising frigid water, lowering spikes, falling rocks, curious rats, voices around the corner, a pudding you didn't see, biting insects, party drama, encroaching plot... so many devious things!
this Magical Cunning is a fig leaf. at the end of the day, this Magical Cunning is still mother-may-i.
this Magical Cunning isn't breaking warlocks who remain short rest dependent and remain unlikely to 'waste' pact slots outside of battle. and it would neither break them nor fix them completely if there were another one. but if there was an invocation to pick up an additional Magical Cunning, I'd consider taking that over an invocation that provided a permanent free 2nd-level spell slot. because I don't want to increase the number of spell slots I get (that might hyperbole my warlock more). power creep is real.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
I'm replacing my current lvl 10 transmutation wizard with the UA version for playtesting, starting today. It seems to fix the things that I've wanted to fix for a while. This new wizard honestly seems like a pure improvement.
I made some very specific character creation frames for this run, to avoid past problems. I decided that I will use "telekinetic"-style or transmutation spells whenever possible. Only picked very few of the usual optimal spells.
I wanted to create a Harry Potter style wizard. You know, how they have a magical trick for every household chore or problem.
But I still ran into a bit of a problem. I still ended up having to prepare quite optimal spells simply for survival's sake. The stakes are so high. Luckily my spell choices still make the character different from my past wizards.
Memorize Spell fixes still splendidly, making my wizard more of a wizard. I can prep the necessary spells and then use Memorize to take those fun Transmutation quirk spells for utility situations whenever needed. :)
Finland GMT/UTC +2
Pact magic is not great, even a little. It's what you're stuck with presently when you decide you want other good features such as invocations and eldritch blast. I highly doubt the majority of warlock players like when their groups don't want to take short rests because it doesn't make narrative sense. Or your DM doesn't let you take a short rest because it doesn't make narrative sense.
I suspect that the feedback submitted was by players who think that pact magic is unique and interesting (this is certainly true) but have never played it to understand the limitations that come with it.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Oh no, it IS very limiting, but that's different from it being cool and having potential. The designers are taking a very surface level "they loved this so more of it" or they had problems with this so let's scrap it altogether..." approach
I have read the UA Playtest 7 but have not actually fully understood it.
some initial thoughts.
Barbarian - Eh still doesn't scale to t3 or t4 but then again DnD doesn't really scale to t3 or t4;
I love how they got rid of the exhaustion condition to Berserker subclass. The damage increase is o.k. but extra non-bonus attacks would be better. Especially 2 non-bonus extra attacks. A berserker barb swinging their weapon 4x per round while in a frenzy would be an awesome sight indeed.
Ygg Barb??????????? Why? just why? The only merit to this subclass is the ability to say in the middle of the game "GET OVER HERE!" and then play the Mortal Combat scream in the back ground.
Path of the Wild Heart - Meh. For Bear since we only get two resistances why not include all damage types in the mix. Why exclude psychic and force damage?????? Also picking the the two resistance types at the beginning of your rage would be better if you are only going to get two.
Fighter -
I like the extra Second Winds and the expanded use of them.
Weapon Mastery - I would rather have a two weapons get 3 tricks than six weapons with one trick. Also I want to pick the tricks out of all possible tricks not just specific for a single weapon. I think it would be cool to see a character justify the topple trick on a dagger. May be "I run up to the monster and whack them on the head with the pommel of my knife!"
Battle Master - From a players point of view Relentless is AWESOME! from a Dm it is broken. You get a trick every turn no matter what. You could blow all six of your tricks on the first two turns of combat then use Relentless to do a trick every turn after that. What happened to the action economy????? If people are complaining that they don't have enough dice for tricks, find a way to add dice. A suggestion is Relentless adds a number of dice equal to your proficiency modifier rounded down to your total number of dice. If you have no dice when initiative is rolled you get four dice. You get to do more tricks but some elements of the action economy are maintained.
Brawler - Where to begin. No armor class adjustment????? So every Brawler goes through the trouble of wearing full plate armor but leaves the useful weapons behind??????? No shield encouragement????? Where is the Captain America build I have been longing to have????? Also the brawny assumption is hurtful. Jackie Chan might be crying right now. Why not allow the player to chose strength or dexterity for the subclass. Another idea create an ability for AC call it Brawlers Boost - when not wearing armor your AC is 10 plus constitution plus the damage stat you chose when you picked the subclass (strength or dexterity) you can use this ability with a shield. You could make a Wrestler type character no armor no weapons just pluck and the power of your body slam, A captain america shield slinging hero of the people, or a gladiator that picks up a stone and cracks their opponents head open with it.
Champion - I admit I slept through reading this one.
Eldritch Knight - no comment due to extreme ignorance of the facts.
Sorcerer - More work needs to be done to make this a separate class from the wizard. Meta-magic is o.k. but most wizard spells are good as written. Going up against a fire immune monster? Cone of Cold, Lightning Bolt, etc.
Careful Spell - Wizards should not target their friends anyway
Distance Spell - Most spell ranges are fine as is.
Empowered spell - Alright this one is cool.
Extended spell - Most Spell durations are fine. Now if the first sorcerer point spent removed concentration but kept the listed duration, that would be something. Extending that non-concentration duration with more spent points would be awesome.
Quickened Spell - This one confuses me. What it should do but doesn't seem to is allow a sorcerer to cast two or more spells at the same time but somehow doesn't do that very well. I realize allowing a sorcerer to use their bonus action, their action, and their reaction to cast three spells all at once would be awesome but Quicken Spell does not do that. Spell casters in general can already cast a spell with a bonus action cantrip.
Seeking Spell - Another bite at the "to hit" apple. I like it and admit wizards don't get to do that.
Subtle Spell - What????? This doesn't really do anything mechanically. Now if it removed all need for a material component, that would be worth it. It specifically excludes gp cost components or consumed components. Wizards carry components on them anyway so nothing to see here. The some they can re-use some get consumed. This meta-magic ability doesn't help there. There is nothing in the rules that says a Wizard can't whisper the verbal parts and hide the somatic parts of a spell. Unless the spell description includes "Must perform the full body Robot Dance Move" of course.
Twinned Spell - So you spend a sorcery point rather than a spell slot? Big deal.
The sub classes were minor tweaks to the 2014 rules so meh.
Warlock - I really want to like Warlocks. One of my Favorite Fantasy Characters is Elric of Melnibone and I have been dying to play a dark brooding spell caster that traffics in the darkest foulest magics and then swings a hell-sword in combat. The Warlock class doesn't seem to be that or at least not very well.
My idea - get rid of pact magic completely. Don't do a spell list either. Lean into Invocations. Give the Warlock something like 20 Invocations. I like using Invocations for pact boons. The Warlock would still have a pact with a greater being just no pact spells. Invocations could be used to cast spells. By putting together different combinations of Invocations a character could make either a formidable spell caster or s warrior with decent magical ability. Allow the Invocations to modify feat rules so that they could take the Magic Initiate feat more than once. Also use the idea from past UAs and allow Invocations to cast higher level spells instead of Mystical Arcanium.
In general the Warlock sub-classes were o.k. improvements to the 2014 stuff.
What is confusing is what counts as a Warlock Cantrip for Agonizing Blast and how many dice does it affect. Say my Warlock uses Magic Initiate feat to get the Sorcerers Burst cantrip and then uses Agonizing Blast on it. At 17th level would the damage be 4d8 +5 or 1d8+5 x 4? My gut tells me it would be 4d8 +5 but the wording is plural which might me multiple dice get modified. Also Magic Initiate might not transform a Sorcerer Spell into Warlock Spell but if it did, a Wizard could use Sorcerer's Burst to get a meta-magic effect on a damaging cantrip.
Wizards- I like them but not much was changed.
I still believe that the sorcerer and the wizard classes should be folded together or made radically different from each other. meta-magic alone really doesn't do the job (see my above comments)
Well, since you put it that way.... just let the warlock keep their cantrips as well.