My initial reaction to the new warlock sub-class is that it is unnecessary. You can essentially get there with the Great Old One and appropriate invocation selections.
Lurker in the Deep feels a bit like Wizards playing catch-up to Fjord. Ironically, it does feel very unnecessary and gimmicky, the whole Summon Water Wenis thing is odd and doesn't feel much like the warlock is scouting for a master of the Deeps.
Aberrant Mind is...different. Very different. Off the top of my head, feels pretty Mythos-y, what with the abhorrent mental powers and the gross physical mutations (in every sense of the word 'gross'). I've never liked it when UA just clones features between subclasses, giving the Aberrant Mind the same dragon scales feature as the Draconic Bloodline just cheapens both subclasses, but otherwise it's at least an interesting direction. Dunno how keen I am on Warp Reality, but I know a few players that'd run the shit out of this sorcerer, cackling about Chaos Gods the whole while.
Also? Mind Sliver is absurd. Quicken Spell Mind Sliver, spike the target with a rarely-resisted Intelligence save, Bane their save against your actual big spell for free without having to actually stick Bane. Hell, Heighten the big spell to boot for Save-at-disadvantage-minus-1d4. Cantrip is bonkers good on Sorcerers and an actually pretty nice alternative for other psionic-flavored casters. They can't combo it with their own shit the way sorcerers can, but spiking saves is valuable kinda regardless, and Intelligence is so rarely a save anything in the game has any numbers in. G'damn.
The Aberrant Mind sorcerer feels like they're redoing the Great Old One warlock and the Lurkerlock doesn't feel like a retread of a GOOlock, it feels more like its more physical or visceral cousin.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Devouring Maw looks like a really powerful ability.
Restrain and damage per round everyone in a 10 foot radius for a full minute, have to use their action to try and break out, 10-20 free temporary hit points that can refresh every turn, and its NO CONCENTRATION.
Aberrant mind is cool. We've been needing a psionic sorcerer (to the point that I even homebrewed one). My only real complaint is that it copies the 13+DEX from draconic sorcerer, and it shouldn't have to. They can just give the cast with sorcery points aspect of psionic sorcery to level 1 (leaving the free subtle spell until level 6, and yes I realize you dont get sorcery points till level 2).
I like the lurker in the deep. We need elemental patrons. But I still feel like the GOO is a more appropriate patron for krackens and aberrations. So maybe downplay the tentacles and make it more about air and water.
Mind sliver might be my new favorite attack cantrip. INT saves, psychic damage, useful effect. Love it.
Also? Mind Sliver is absurd. Quicken Spell Mind Sliver, spike the target with a rarely-resisted Intelligence save, Bane their save against your actual big spell for free without having to actually stick Bane. Hell, Heighten the big spell to boot for Save-at-disadvantage-minus-1d4. Cantrip is bonkers good on Sorcerers and an actually pretty nice alternative for other psionic-flavored casters. They can't combo it with their own shit the way sorcerers can, but spiking saves is valuable kinda regardless, and Intelligence is so rarely a save anything in the game has any numbers in. G'damn.
Most of this is true, but I want to point out that if you quicken it, you can only cast a cantrip as an action. So even for sorcerers it is just a good psionic-flavored cantrip that might enable some combo's between two casters or one caster across two turns.
So, the thing that I find strange is that this UA breaks the mold by giving a bunch of spells completely for free for this sorcerer subclass, while not adding anything at all to this Warlock's subclass spell list, which is a pretty big difference from prior archetypes for both of these classes.
EDIT: scratch that last part of my comment, I completely skipped over the expanded spell list somehow...
So, the thing that I find strange is that this UA breaks the mold by giving a bunch of spells completely for free for this sorcerer subclass.
Yeah, I like it. The sorcerer has always been rather limitied in the number of spells it could learn. In my opinion, it is all the more reason it doesn't need to steal draconic sorcerer's AC. Just having bonus spells and a ribbon ability at level 1 is pretty good.
They are pretty great additions, though I'm sceptical Aberrant Mind would be made official in its current form purely because they are magnitudes better than the existing options i.e. no sorcerer subclass has left UA yet with 10 free spells & Psionic Sorcery is massively misaligned vs standard SP spell slot recovery.
I would really like to see it do so, but then if I could swap any of the current sub-classes for just those two features (e.g. swap Divine Soul for the spells on the Celestial Warlock list & ability to cast them for half SP without components) I would so in a heartbeat - which is probably a sign they are over-powered.
I'm excited the Lurker in the Deep, and really like that it is fairly easy to re-flavor (e.g. tentacles to ball lightning, maw to maelstrom), but it doesn't stand out the same way - which is overall a good thing I suppose!
I have always been fond of persistent bonus action effects (Spiritual Weapon, Flaming Sphere, etc.) so baking one in to the subclass immediately seizes my attention, and Guardian Grasp certainly adds a little more value to it.
Just that feature, Devouring Maw as a fire & forget (the 10 ft radius pretty much kills the viability) and a 'recall' teleport is definitely enough to sell it for me - though objectively I'd expect it to fade into the pack behind Hexblade and Fiend.
I do like Mind Sliver, but the "save -1d4" effect is a little awkward. It's following in the footsteps of spells like Frostbite (disadvantage on next weapon attack) and Vicious Mockery (disadvantage on next attack.) I guess they thought disadvantage on the next saving through would be too powerful for a cantrip?
Very much so. Disadvantage, mathed out, is generally held to be equivalent to -5 to a roll; 1d4 averages to -2 to a roll. Disadvantage is more than twice as powerful, and furthermore 5e is suuuper gun shy about monkeying with saves (negatively) in the first place. Everybody and their mothers can get advantage on saves, and high_CR enemies can have +45 to four out of six saves for free, but anything that imposes disadvantage - or even just a numeric penalty a'la Mind Sliver here, or Bane - tends to be very rare and require either an unmodified save of its own or some sort of special circumstance to work.
Free disadvantage on the next save from a cantrip is vastly more than I would imagine the dev team is willing to allow to happen. Frankly, I'm astonished they're willing to even entertain the idea of Bane-the-damaging-cantrip.
With this UA and the last one they are really pushing the Psionics type classes so I can see them adding that to the game soon, but how soon could they be added in that upcoming Eberron book or something later? Like a Dark Sun setting?
Flavour I cannot say enough how much I love the new Warlock. I have been waiting for a Water themed -lock for some time now. Sure, tentacles and Kraken can be done by GOO - but this Patron is way more direct. We also usually do not get the ability to control water with our spells. Lvl 6 directly opens up our Invocation Slots by giving us a better Gift of the Depths. To my knowledge this is also the first time a patron is that actively involved with their Warlock. They are constantly helping us out with our subclass features.
Mechanics The spell list is absolute hyper. Apart from Shatter. We already got Shatter on our Warlock Spell List.. We also got Silence now. Strong Spell. Thunderwave? Sleet Storm? Lightning Bolt? Yes, please! Also the whole thing about summoning tentacles? Great! The whole patron screams 'Battlefield Control'. Did I mention yet that the tentacles also trigger Hex?! Let's also not forget the ability to just transport your whole party back to the inn from last night..
The class is full of mechanics that by itself are already great.
Critic We already got Shatter in our Spell List. We do not need a second time. got fixed Devouring Maw feels like an ability that should restrain every turn and not just once when it is 'cast'. I would not even mind giving up concentration for that. It is an extremely strong ability and I cannot see myself not trying to use it every encounter. The fact it refreshes every short rest makes this the go to battlefield control option.
@Jacqsynn I don't see these making it into the Eberron book. If I were to make a guess I would say they probably have plans for a book sometime next year, and it might be even longer if they try and take another stab at psionics with the Mystic, though that is pure speculation on my part.
Thoughts on the Lurkerlock: Name wise, it fits the lurkers in internet forums everywhere. Mechanics wise, I can actually play Aquaman as a warlock? I'm okay with talking to fish telepathically and doing hilarious roleplay of convincing piranha to not eat me. I'd also like the idea of having the teleport be a gargantuan whale devouring myself and my allies only to splash down elsewhere to drop us off, only to call out "Thanks Jonah."
On the Aberrant Sorcerer: There's a lot of interesting flavor going on here. Sorcery points to have minute long utility effects by transforming is nice. A capstone ability that can mix a bit of Spirit Guardians with a teleport is definitely more unique than most high level abilities. I agree that the AC adjustment probably won't survive, but that's almost entirely going to be due to people's feedback about it pushing that aspect out. The Psychic resistance and the telepathy will probably stay. As for the bonus spells known, I think the list might get pruned a bit but is otherwise a fine idea.
A few thoughts on how to balance the Aberrant Sorcerer:
Scrap Warped Being entirely; it's too similar to the Draconic Bloodline, and the fact that we'll be giving them extra spells known means that Mage Armor won't as much of a burden as it usually is.
Keep Invasive Thoughts, but add a clarification - once the link is established, does the 30 foot range still apply? The description as is only mentions that you need to be in range to set up the link, but clarification would be good.
And now, what you've all been waiting for: the spell list. I would change it as follows: whenever you learn a new Sorcerer spell, you may learn a spell from this list of spells instead, even if it is not normally a Sorcerer spell. In addition, at 1st level, you learn the two first level spells from this list. You learn a third spell from this list at level 6, and a fourth at level 10. You may replace these spells with another spell upon levelling up, as you normally do with Sorcerer spells, but you must replace them with another spell from this spell list.
At first, I thought Revelations in the Flesh was too strong because it did too much, but the fact that it requires you to spend a finite resource (unlike the flight from Divine Soul and Draconic Bloodline, which is at will) and only lasts a minute.
Warp Reality looks better than some of the other 18th level Sorcerer features, which is fine by me, since many of those seem a little weak.
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https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/sorcerer-and-warlock
https://media.wizards.com/2019/dnd/downloads/UA-AberrantLurk.pdf
My initial reaction to the new warlock sub-class is that it is unnecessary. You can essentially get there with the Great Old One and appropriate invocation selections.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Exactly. Cthulhu is an aberration, not a kraken.
Lurker in the Deep feels a bit like Wizards playing catch-up to Fjord. Ironically, it does feel very unnecessary and gimmicky, the whole Summon Water Wenis thing is odd and doesn't feel much like the warlock is scouting for a master of the Deeps.
Aberrant Mind is...different. Very different. Off the top of my head, feels pretty Mythos-y, what with the abhorrent mental powers and the gross physical mutations (in every sense of the word 'gross'). I've never liked it when UA just clones features between subclasses, giving the Aberrant Mind the same dragon scales feature as the Draconic Bloodline just cheapens both subclasses, but otherwise it's at least an interesting direction. Dunno how keen I am on Warp Reality, but I know a few players that'd run the shit out of this sorcerer, cackling about Chaos Gods the whole while.
Also? Mind Sliver is absurd. Quicken Spell Mind Sliver, spike the target with a rarely-resisted Intelligence save, Bane their save against your actual big spell for free without having to actually stick Bane. Hell, Heighten the big spell to boot for Save-at-disadvantage-minus-1d4. Cantrip is bonkers good on Sorcerers and an actually pretty nice alternative for other psionic-flavored casters. They can't combo it with their own shit the way sorcerers can, but spiking saves is valuable kinda regardless, and Intelligence is so rarely a save anything in the game has any numbers in. G'damn.
Why you shouldn't start ANOTHER thread about DDB not giving away free redeems on your hardcopy book purchases.
Thinking of starting ANOTHER thread asking why Epic Boons haven't been implemented? Read this first to learn why you shouldn't!
When is this going to be added to D&D Beyond?
The Aberrant Mind sorcerer feels like they're redoing the Great Old One warlock and the Lurkerlock doesn't feel like a retread of a GOOlock, it feels more like its more physical or visceral cousin.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Devouring Maw looks like a really powerful ability.
Restrain and damage per round everyone in a 10 foot radius for a full minute, have to use their action to try and break out, 10-20 free temporary hit points that can refresh every turn, and its NO CONCENTRATION.
Plus it comes back on a short rest.
I have read the PDF and I have opinions.
Aberrant mind is cool. We've been needing a psionic sorcerer (to the point that I even homebrewed one). My only real complaint is that it copies the 13+DEX from draconic sorcerer, and it shouldn't have to. They can just give the cast with sorcery points aspect of psionic sorcery to level 1 (leaving the free subtle spell until level 6, and yes I realize you dont get sorcery points till level 2).
I like the lurker in the deep. We need elemental patrons. But I still feel like the GOO is a more appropriate patron for krackens and aberrations. So maybe downplay the tentacles and make it more about air and water.
Mind sliver might be my new favorite attack cantrip. INT saves, psychic damage, useful effect. Love it.
Most of this is true, but I want to point out that if you quicken it, you can only cast a cantrip as an action. So even for sorcerers it is just a good psionic-flavored cantrip that might enable some combo's between two casters or one caster across two turns.
They were pretty quick with the barbarian and the monk, it might be about a week?
So, the thing that I find strange is that this UA breaks the mold by giving a bunch of spells completely for free for this sorcerer subclass, while not adding anything at all to this Warlock's subclass spell list, which is a pretty big difference from prior archetypes for both of these classes.
EDIT: scratch that last part of my comment, I completely skipped over the expanded spell list somehow...
Yeah, I like it. The sorcerer has always been rather limitied in the number of spells it could learn. In my opinion, it is all the more reason it doesn't need to steal draconic sorcerer's AC. Just having bonus spells and a ribbon ability at level 1 is pretty good.
They are pretty great additions, though I'm sceptical Aberrant Mind would be made official in its current form purely because they are magnitudes better than the existing options i.e. no sorcerer subclass has left UA yet with 10 free spells & Psionic Sorcery is massively misaligned vs standard SP spell slot recovery.
I would really like to see it do so, but then if I could swap any of the current sub-classes for just those two features (e.g. swap Divine Soul for the spells on the Celestial Warlock list & ability to cast them for half SP without components) I would so in a heartbeat - which is probably a sign they are over-powered.
I'm excited the Lurker in the Deep, and really like that it is fairly easy to re-flavor (e.g. tentacles to ball lightning, maw to maelstrom), but it doesn't stand out the same way - which is overall a good thing I suppose!
I have always been fond of persistent bonus action effects (Spiritual Weapon, Flaming Sphere, etc.) so baking one in to the subclass immediately seizes my attention, and Guardian Grasp certainly adds a little more value to it.
Just that feature, Devouring Maw as a fire & forget (the 10 ft radius pretty much kills the viability) and a 'recall' teleport is definitely enough to sell it for me - though objectively I'd expect it to fade into the pack behind Hexblade and Fiend.
I do like Mind Sliver, but the "save -1d4" effect is a little awkward. It's following in the footsteps of spells like Frostbite (disadvantage on next weapon attack) and Vicious Mockery (disadvantage on next attack.) I guess they thought disadvantage on the next saving through would be too powerful for a cantrip?
Very much so. Disadvantage, mathed out, is generally held to be equivalent to -5 to a roll; 1d4 averages to -2 to a roll. Disadvantage is more than twice as powerful, and furthermore 5e is suuuper gun shy about monkeying with saves (negatively) in the first place. Everybody and their mothers can get advantage on saves, and high_CR enemies can have +45 to four out of six saves for free, but anything that imposes disadvantage - or even just a numeric penalty a'la Mind Sliver here, or Bane - tends to be very rare and require either an unmodified save of its own or some sort of special circumstance to work.
Free disadvantage on the next save from a cantrip is vastly more than I would imagine the dev team is willing to allow to happen. Frankly, I'm astonished they're willing to even entertain the idea of Bane-the-damaging-cantrip.
Why you shouldn't start ANOTHER thread about DDB not giving away free redeems on your hardcopy book purchases.
Thinking of starting ANOTHER thread asking why Epic Boons haven't been implemented? Read this first to learn why you shouldn't!
With this UA and the last one they are really pushing the Psionics type classes so I can see them adding that to the game soon, but how soon could they be added in that upcoming Eberron book or something later? Like a Dark Sun setting?
My thoughts as a Warlock Main
Flavour
I cannot say enough how much I love the new Warlock.
I have been waiting for a Water themed -lock for some time now. Sure, tentacles and Kraken can be done by GOO - but this Patron is way more direct. We also usually do not get the ability to control water with our spells. Lvl 6 directly opens up our Invocation Slots by giving us a better Gift of the Depths.
To my knowledge this is also the first time a patron is that actively involved with their Warlock. They are constantly helping us out with our subclass features.
Mechanics
The spell list is absolute hyper. Apart from Shatter. We already got Shatter on our Warlock Spell List..We also got Silence now. Strong Spell.Thunderwave? Sleet Storm? Lightning Bolt? Yes, please!
Also the whole thing about summoning tentacles? Great!
The whole patron screams 'Battlefield Control'. Did I mention yet that the tentacles also trigger Hex?!
Let's also not forget the ability to just transport your whole party back to the inn from last night..
The class is full of mechanics that by itself are already great.
Critic
We already got Shatter in our Spell List. We do not need a second time.got fixedDevouring Maw feels like an ability that should restrain every turn and not just once when it is 'cast'. I would not even mind giving up concentration for that.
It is an extremely strong ability and I cannot see myself not trying to use it every encounter. The fact it refreshes every short rest makes this the go to battlefield control option.
@Jacqsynn I don't see these making it into the Eberron book. If I were to make a guess I would say they probably have plans for a book sometime next year, and it might be even longer if they try and take another stab at psionics with the Mystic, though that is pure speculation on my part.
Thoughts on the Lurkerlock: Name wise, it fits the lurkers in internet forums everywhere. Mechanics wise, I can actually play Aquaman as a warlock? I'm okay with talking to fish telepathically and doing hilarious roleplay of convincing piranha to not eat me. I'd also like the idea of having the teleport be a gargantuan whale devouring myself and my allies only to splash down elsewhere to drop us off, only to call out "Thanks Jonah."
On the Aberrant Sorcerer: There's a lot of interesting flavor going on here. Sorcery points to have minute long utility effects by transforming is nice. A capstone ability that can mix a bit of Spirit Guardians with a teleport is definitely more unique than most high level abilities. I agree that the AC adjustment probably won't survive, but that's almost entirely going to be due to people's feedback about it pushing that aspect out. The Psychic resistance and the telepathy will probably stay. As for the bonus spells known, I think the list might get pruned a bit but is otherwise a fine idea.
A few thoughts on how to balance the Aberrant Sorcerer: