Twilight cleric getting unlimited-range darkvision is awesome. That domain spell list is literally sex. Mein Gott, so gud. Advantage on initiative that you can pass around is a nice touch. The Channel Divinity is a bit vague - can you channel "soothing twilight" when it's the middle of the day out, or does any other light brighter than 'dim' wash out your Twilight Bomb? Steps of the Brave is pretty boss, and Midnight Shroud is freaking cool. That's an encounter-changing ability, the sort of thing you could build entire strategies around. Heh, also marvelously timed, I've had a shadow-miko character I've been trying to get right for weeks now. Bing - solution found.
The Wildfire druid is, frankly, badass. Summon a Blistering Firecat or similar scorching elemental with a Wild Shape, get an artificer-style bonus-action combat pet that comes back on short rest and gives non-Moon druids an effective use of their Wild Shape? Yes. Gain a suite of powerful support spells and also Fire Everywhere? Awesome. Enhancing both healing and fire damage, and being able to use the wildfire spirit to get up to Hinky Targeting Hijinks, is fun. Rolling those 8s would feel pretty baller, and the critter can deliver Cure Wounds for you more safely than most anything else. Flames of Life is a little janky, but honestly it's also super cool support for frontliners. Every nothing little goober goblin or kobold or basic-***** bandit the fighter or palladalladingdong cuts down gets to turn into 2d10+WIS healing, and anyone who tries to swipe it gets blasted, instead. Nice. And Blazing Endurance is ridiculous. There are druids who'll gain more temporary HP with that feature than they have regular HP. You get a bare-ass minimum of 70THP at 14th level, and a 2d10+14 firebomb. Yowzas. If this goes live it may replace Dreams as my favorite druid, and become the second druid circle I'd actually consent to play.
Onomancy is...weird. I can see where the trope comes in though, and it's not necessarily weird in a bad way. True Names are supposed to be a bit more difficult than "what do you answer to when someone shouts it in a bar?", but then again this is D&D. Having True Names be relatively easy to learn but also not nearly as powerful as Naming is traditionally supposed to be is a decent compromise. The whole Resonants thing being basically better Metamagic is a little crazy, I can see some sorcerers feeling some kind of way about that. Nevertheless...I'm not sure if I like it, but it's an interesting thing to see, and rich fodder indeed for a more roleplaying-heavy campaign. A Master of Names is a powerful man indeed, says the Kingkiller.
Side note: holy shit these subclass UAs are coming thick and fast. There has to be some sort of Xanathar's Guide to Everything Else in the planning stages right now, ne?
God I want xanathar 2 (hopefully without xanathar in the name tho) also i hope we get a reworked archivist in there, probs wont happen but a guy can dream
Like, seriously. How do they expect people to playtest these things when they release a new one every other week or so? I don't have enough games to play the regular characters I want to run, there's no possible way someone could run a campaign and properly shake down a class from 1 to 20, or even just one to five, in a couple of weeks.
I like the new stuff, but I know for a fact I won't be able to give informed feedback on their surveys. It feels like such a waste when a lot of these really are super cool ideas. Twilight cleric and Wildfire druid are great, the Aberrant Mind is a great example of what sorcerers should look like, a player in my ongoing Saltmarsh game switched to Oath of Heroism the moment it went live because their backstory was dot-for-dot exactly what Heroism was built for, and I haven't had a chance to ORA ORA ORA someone yet with Astral monks.
I love these. They are significantly different than any other official option (mechanically and thematically), they are powerful but not over powered, and they all look fun to play.
I dont even have any notes for these that I would like changed (except maybe to give Onomancer more ally friendly resonances).
just going to get it out of the way, I love the circle of wild fire, mixing my love of fire with spiritualism for druids.. mmmhm right up my alley.
The Onomancy, I like the idea, especially when you think about it, its a wizard that focuses on the power of words. So having a subclass that could focus on power words, I personally felt that was lacking even though I know they can't learn power word heal, its nice that someone thematically specializes in that form of magic.
Now with the new cleric, honestly... I couldn't care less and it seemed fairly underwhelming, but that's just me.
Unlimited darkvision, advantage on Initiative that you can hand off if you want, a bonkers good domain spell list, permanent free flight in dimness or darkness (which you can potentially force for at least one minute anywhere with your Channel Divinity, or cast with your Darkness spell), and the ability to give your entire party Devil Sight at 17th level?
Shadow priest is life. Shadow priest is love. I need these things on DDB already, even if Wizards is releasing them too damn fast. Watching my group squee like crazy over these is igniting my own desire to build more characters.
Twilight domain has a great aesthetic. Mechanically a tad dull, since it's mainly all about those passive buffs. Getting martial stuff seems maybe a little redundant considering how many clerics get that stuff too, but it is nice to have since the other passives at 1 are a bit situational? IDK, auto advantage on init is pretty strong though, so maybe they don't SUPER need the martial stuff. I'd mainly pick it for the flavor though, and also cause I'm a sucker for support characters that aren't hard wired for crunching bigger heal numbers.
Wildfire is super neat, though, I love seeing new druid subs give you new gimmicks for your wildshape, and I think the li'l flame spirit is worth the extra book-keeping. It's also overall much more robust off the bat than the spore druid was initially, even if the abilities seem a bit involved (eg. getting more healing for killing with fire, but only if an ally can get over to the flaming corpse at level 10).
And yes, modular wizard, absolutely. It's a good mix of sounding neat on paper, but having decent mechanical options as well.
Side note: holy shit these subclass UAs are coming thick and fast. There has to be some sort of Xanathar's Guide to Everything Else in the planning stages right now, ne?
I'm calling Spelljammer with the flavour of the others.
Hjalmar Gunderson, Vuman Alchemist Plague Doctor in a HB Campaign, Post Netherese Invasion Cormyr (lvl20 retired) Godfrey, Autognome Butler in Ghosts of Saltmarsh into Spelljammer Grímr Skeggisson, Goliath Rune Knight in Rime of the Frostmaiden DM of two HB campaigns set in the same world.
that cleric seems really good for a 1 lvl dip. i could see building a god wizard using it as a start rather than knowledge domain. i mean the expertise with knowledge is good but that party vision buff seems gamechanging especially if your dm tends to fall towards the 5 minute adventuring day and the initiative buff is so so good. might even free up the ability score improvement at Wizard 4 as alert becomes less needed. and variant human is feasible for warcaster at lvl 1 since you have great darkvision.
and am I the only one thinking we might see some dips into the onomancy for the spellslot free bless?
The twilight cleric seems pretty good at early levels. Almost too good? There is no disadvantage to giving yourself advantage on initiative checks, then giving it to another person when things seem like they are heading south. I guess I get it, but idk. But the 17th level ability honestly does not feel that great, because by that point a lot of the creatures you are fighting will have either blindsight, tremorsense, or truesight.
So now, wizards (one subclass, but still) have metamagic, kinda. Because...why not? It's not like that's the sorcerer's one distinguishing feature or anything.
So now, wizards (one subclass, but still) have metamagic, kinda. Because...why not? It's not like that's the sorcerer's one distinguishing feature or anything.
Last I checked, sorcerers don't need to know the true name of something to use their metamagic on them. And before you mention Extract Name, remember that it still requires a Wisdom saving throw and the creature to be charmed.
Good catch. I speed-read the document. Ok, I feel slightly better about this. :)
Honestly, i was not as huge a fan of these subclasses (except wildfire, that shit was rad) as i was previous UA ones, like abberant mind. I dont dislike them, i think the lore is cool, but twilight cleric (to me) is kind of forgettable, and onomancer is just a bit much.
Twilight Domain is exactly what I was praying for (Praise the Moon!)
A cleric who is literally a wayfarer for those travelling through the darkest and most sinister of places...and is so steadfast in their belief that their deity watches over them and guides them through it.
It's a nice mix of the Moon Domain / Traveler Domain, as well...and the features are pretty potent. I like the darkness and twilight relating to moon deities like Selune...but also how it harkens to wayfarer gods like Hermes or The Raven Queen, who guides loss souls through the afterlife...something that gives a cleric a few things to do.
My minor thing is...is seems with heavy armor and Divine Strike, it wants to be a martial class...and I wonder if it might be better suited for the Potent Spellcasting feature some other domains get.
Aside from that, and the curious absence of the "Moonbeam" spell, I find this cleric domain to be my favorite new subclass from this release!
My minor thing is...is seems with heavy armor and Divine Strike, it wants to be a martial class...and I wonder if it might be better suited for the Potent Spellcasting feature some other domains get.
Aside from that, and the curious absence of the "Moonbeam" spell, I find this cleric domain to be my favorite new subclass from this release!
It has proficiency in martial weapons too, it is a martial cleric (the likes of war domain). I think I divine strike suits it better than some other domains that get it (I'm looking at you life domain).
Moonbeam would be a good addition, but I am opposed to removing invisibility. They could remove darkness and not hurt my feelings, but then they would have to change the 17th level feature. Unless they decided to add darkness as part of the 17th level feature.
Onomancy looks cool. Here’s my one question/concern. Say you’re fighting one big enemy with decent saves (like a dragon). If it saves against Extract Name, then bless or bane is the only cool thing left you can do, because you can’t try again. Will that be frustrating to play? I guess it’s most similar to School of Enchantment, since those abilities also can’t retarget if the save is successful.
All of the Resonant options require knowing the enemy’s name, except Nullification, which I assume will target allies at least some of the time. How useful is ending spell effects against your allies?
We've got the Twilight domain for the Cleric
The Circle of Wildfire for the Durid.
And Onomancy for the Wizard.
IMO Onomancy looks to be the most interesting.
I cant find this
where is it
Yeah i got it
Hm. Those are different.
Twilight cleric getting unlimited-range darkvision is awesome. That domain spell list is literally sex. Mein Gott, so gud. Advantage on initiative that you can pass around is a nice touch. The Channel Divinity is a bit vague - can you channel "soothing twilight" when it's the middle of the day out, or does any other light brighter than 'dim' wash out your Twilight Bomb? Steps of the Brave is pretty boss, and Midnight Shroud is freaking cool. That's an encounter-changing ability, the sort of thing you could build entire strategies around. Heh, also marvelously timed, I've had a shadow-miko character I've been trying to get right for weeks now. Bing - solution found.
The Wildfire druid is, frankly, badass. Summon a Blistering Firecat or similar scorching elemental with a Wild Shape, get an artificer-style bonus-action combat pet that comes back on short rest and gives non-Moon druids an effective use of their Wild Shape? Yes. Gain a suite of powerful support spells and also Fire Everywhere? Awesome. Enhancing both healing and fire damage, and being able to use the wildfire spirit to get up to Hinky Targeting Hijinks, is fun. Rolling those 8s would feel pretty baller, and the critter can deliver Cure Wounds for you more safely than most anything else. Flames of Life is a little janky, but honestly it's also super cool support for frontliners. Every nothing little goober goblin or kobold or basic-***** bandit the fighter or palladalladingdong cuts down gets to turn into 2d10+WIS healing, and anyone who tries to swipe it gets blasted, instead. Nice. And Blazing Endurance is ridiculous. There are druids who'll gain more temporary HP with that feature than they have regular HP. You get a bare-ass minimum of 70THP at 14th level, and a 2d10+14 firebomb. Yowzas. If this goes live it may replace Dreams as my favorite druid, and become the second druid circle I'd actually consent to play.
Onomancy is...weird. I can see where the trope comes in though, and it's not necessarily weird in a bad way. True Names are supposed to be a bit more difficult than "what do you answer to when someone shouts it in a bar?", but then again this is D&D. Having True Names be relatively easy to learn but also not nearly as powerful as Naming is traditionally supposed to be is a decent compromise. The whole Resonants thing being basically better Metamagic is a little crazy, I can see some sorcerers feeling some kind of way about that. Nevertheless...I'm not sure if I like it, but it's an interesting thing to see, and rich fodder indeed for a more roleplaying-heavy campaign. A Master of Names is a powerful man indeed, says the Kingkiller.
Side note: holy shit these subclass UAs are coming thick and fast. There has to be some sort of Xanathar's Guide to Everything Else in the planning stages right now, ne?
Please do not contact or message me.
God I want xanathar 2 (hopefully without xanathar in the name tho) also i hope we get a reworked archivist in there, probs wont happen but a guy can dream
Like, seriously. How do they expect people to playtest these things when they release a new one every other week or so? I don't have enough games to play the regular characters I want to run, there's no possible way someone could run a campaign and properly shake down a class from 1 to 20, or even just one to five, in a couple of weeks.
I like the new stuff, but I know for a fact I won't be able to give informed feedback on their surveys. It feels like such a waste when a lot of these really are super cool ideas. Twilight cleric and Wildfire druid are great, the Aberrant Mind is a great example of what sorcerers should look like, a player in my ongoing Saltmarsh game switched to Oath of Heroism the moment it went live because their backstory was dot-for-dot exactly what Heroism was built for, and I haven't had a chance to ORA ORA ORA someone yet with Astral monks.
Slow down, Wizards. There will be time.
Please do not contact or message me.
I love these. They are significantly different than any other official option (mechanically and thematically), they are powerful but not over powered, and they all look fun to play.
I dont even have any notes for these that I would like changed (except maybe to give Onomancer more ally friendly resonances).
just going to get it out of the way, I love the circle of wild fire, mixing my love of fire with spiritualism for druids.. mmmhm right up my alley.
The Onomancy, I like the idea, especially when you think about it, its a wizard that focuses on the power of words. So having a subclass that could focus on power words, I personally felt that was lacking even though I know they can't learn power word heal, its nice that someone thematically specializes in that form of magic.
Now with the new cleric, honestly... I couldn't care less and it seemed fairly underwhelming, but that's just me.
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Twilight cleric is amazing DX
Unlimited darkvision, advantage on Initiative that you can hand off if you want, a bonkers good domain spell list, permanent free flight in dimness or darkness (which you can potentially force for at least one minute anywhere with your Channel Divinity, or cast with your Darkness spell), and the ability to give your entire party Devil Sight at 17th level?
Shadow priest is life. Shadow priest is love. I need these things on DDB already, even if Wizards is releasing them too damn fast. Watching my group squee like crazy over these is igniting my own desire to build more characters.
Please do not contact or message me.
Twilight domain has a great aesthetic. Mechanically a tad dull, since it's mainly all about those passive buffs. Getting martial stuff seems maybe a little redundant considering how many clerics get that stuff too, but it is nice to have since the other passives at 1 are a bit situational? IDK, auto advantage on init is pretty strong though, so maybe they don't SUPER need the martial stuff. I'd mainly pick it for the flavor though, and also cause I'm a sucker for support characters that aren't hard wired for crunching bigger heal numbers.
Wildfire is super neat, though, I love seeing new druid subs give you new gimmicks for your wildshape, and I think the li'l flame spirit is worth the extra book-keeping. It's also overall much more robust off the bat than the spore druid was initially, even if the abilities seem a bit involved (eg. getting more healing for killing with fire, but only if an ally can get over to the flaming corpse at level 10).
And yes, modular wizard, absolutely. It's a good mix of sounding neat on paper, but having decent mechanical options as well.
Overall this is a really solid UA in my book.
Holy heck, that Wizard capstone ability! Choosing to change damage type to Force or Psychic?! Whooooeeeee!!!
I'm calling Spelljammer with the flavour of the others.
Hjalmar Gunderson, Vuman Alchemist Plague Doctor in a HB Campaign, Post Netherese Invasion Cormyr (lvl20 retired)
Godfrey, Autognome Butler in Ghosts of Saltmarsh into Spelljammer
Grímr Skeggisson, Goliath Rune Knight in Rime of the Frostmaiden
DM of two HB campaigns set in the same world.
that cleric seems really good for a 1 lvl dip. i could see building a god wizard using it as a start rather than knowledge domain. i mean the expertise with knowledge is good but that party vision buff seems gamechanging especially if your dm tends to fall towards the 5 minute adventuring day and the initiative buff is so so good. might even free up the ability score improvement at Wizard 4 as alert becomes less needed. and variant human is feasible for warcaster at lvl 1 since you have great darkvision.
and am I the only one thinking we might see some dips into the onomancy for the spellslot free bless?
The twilight cleric seems pretty good at early levels. Almost too good? There is no disadvantage to giving yourself advantage on initiative checks, then giving it to another person when things seem like they are heading south. I guess I get it, but idk. But the 17th level ability honestly does not feel that great, because by that point a lot of the creatures you are fighting will have either blindsight, tremorsense, or truesight.
So now, wizards (one subclass, but still) have metamagic, kinda. Because...why not? It's not like that's the sorcerer's one distinguishing feature or anything.
Partway through the quest for absolute truth.
Maybe dumb question but when will these be avaiable for Character creation?
Good catch. I speed-read the document. Ok, I feel slightly better about this. :)
Partway through the quest for absolute truth.
Honestly, i was not as huge a fan of these subclasses (except wildfire, that shit was rad) as i was previous UA ones, like abberant mind. I dont dislike them, i think the lore is cool, but twilight cleric (to me) is kind of forgettable, and onomancer is just a bit much.
Twilight Domain is exactly what I was praying for (Praise the Moon!)
A cleric who is literally a wayfarer for those travelling through the darkest and most sinister of places...and is so steadfast in their belief that their deity watches over them and guides them through it.
It's a nice mix of the Moon Domain / Traveler Domain, as well...and the features are pretty potent. I like the darkness and twilight relating to moon deities like Selune...but also how it harkens to wayfarer gods like Hermes or The Raven Queen, who guides loss souls through the afterlife...something that gives a cleric a few things to do.
My minor thing is...is seems with heavy armor and Divine Strike, it wants to be a martial class...and I wonder if it might be better suited for the Potent Spellcasting feature some other domains get.
Aside from that, and the curious absence of the "Moonbeam" spell, I find this cleric domain to be my favorite new subclass from this release!
It has proficiency in martial weapons too, it is a martial cleric (the likes of war domain). I think I divine strike suits it better than some other domains that get it (I'm looking at you life domain).
Moonbeam would be a good addition, but I am opposed to removing invisibility. They could remove darkness and not hurt my feelings, but then they would have to change the 17th level feature. Unless they decided to add darkness as part of the 17th level feature.
Onomancy looks cool. Here’s my one question/concern. Say you’re fighting one big enemy with decent saves (like a dragon). If it saves against Extract Name, then bless or bane is the only cool thing left you can do, because you can’t try again. Will that be frustrating to play? I guess it’s most similar to School of Enchantment, since those abilities also can’t retarget if the save is successful.
All of the Resonant options require knowing the enemy’s name, except Nullification, which I assume will target allies at least some of the time. How useful is ending spell effects against your allies?
Adrik Torunn: Hill Dwarf Life Cleric of Moradin
Ando Fain: Half-elf Oath of Ancients Paladin of Miliekki, Dragon of Icespire Peak campaign
DM for home campaign