I see so many trashing on the way of mercy, mercy comes in many forms and sometimes it is ending a life gently through poison. No need for them to struggle as they cling to life, allow them slip gently into the sweet embrace of death. I enjoy the concept for riding the line between life and death being the arbiter of both. It's probably my favorite of this set thematically.
Typically speaking when damage is dealt to a conscious creature in D&D it's usually includes inflicting pain. The damage over time aspect of the noxious aura is then pretty heavily at odds with the concept of a merciful death.
If they removed the WIS mod poison damage part of it I think it'd still be a quite good feature and thematically coherent seeing as the poisoned condition imposes disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks. Literally making it harder for enemies to hit you or anyone else for a round.
Of course a poisoning aura that also causes damage works well as a deterrent (for creatures that can be deterred anyway). It's an aura that says "Fighting me is going to be awful. You should stop while you still can." And if needed the monk can heal their opponent if they change their mind.
With that in mind Noxious Aura seems more in theme with trying to spare your opponent's life than trying to spare them their misery.
I think the fact that hands of harm causes 3x damage to poisoned creatures is kind of too good of a mechanic to waste so I'm good with having to do a little bit of mental gymnastics to make it fit into the theme. Besides it says right in the description that you can play this class as genuinely merciful or some kind of "Angel of death" figure that sees themselves as ending suffering, even if it's suffering they're causing.
To that point though, I think they should maintain that duality in every class feature. A beneficial aura would balance things out nicely. Y'know really push the Yin and Yang angle.
Holy crap I completely missed the 3x damage to poisoned creatures. That's crazy good.
I see so many trashing on the way of mercy, mercy comes in many forms and sometimes it is ending a life gently through poison. No need for them to struggle as they cling to life, allow them slip gently into the sweet embrace of death. I enjoy the concept for riding the line between life and death being the arbiter of both. It's probably my favorite of this set thematically.
Typically speaking when damage is dealt to a conscious creature in D&D it's usually includes inflicting pain. The damage over time aspect of the noxious aura is then pretty heavily at odds with the concept of a merciful death.
If they removed the WIS mod poison damage part of it I think it'd still be a quite good feature and thematically coherent seeing as the poisoned condition imposes disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks. Literally making it harder for enemies to hit you or anyone else for a round.
Of course a poisoning aura that also causes damage works well as a deterrent (for creatures that can be deterred anyway). It's an aura that says "Fighting me is going to be awful. You should stop while you still can." And if needed the monk can heal their opponent if they change their mind.
With that in mind Noxious Aura seems more in theme with trying to spare your opponent's life than trying to spare them their misery.
I think the fact that hands of harm causes 3x damage to poisoned creatures is kind of too good of a mechanic to waste so I'm good with having to do a little bit of mental gymnastics to make it fit into the theme. Besides it says right in the description that you can play this class as genuinely merciful or some kind of "Angel of death" figure that sees themselves as ending suffering, even if it's suffering they're causing.
To that point though, I think they should maintain that duality in every class feature. A beneficial aura would balance things out nicely. Y'know really push the Yin and Yang angle.
Holy crap I completely missed the 3x damage to poisoned creatures. That's crazy good.
Well I slightly exaggerate it's 3 rolls of your martial arts die, not an automatic 3X. But still that's quite good.
That's good on initiative rolls, but after combat begins there isn't really a benefit to it. out of combat there isn't really a benefit to it. So yeah, kinda weak, but it could be worse, and a lot of the rest is very helpful.
I never thought about it that way. Seems to me like early [the potential for] initiative order is a good thing on every round of combat.
I never thought about it that way. Seems to me like early [the potential for] initiative order is a good thing on every round of combat.
I would disagree. In the first round, it's great, because you can get damage in before you get hit. but once you are in initiative with no lair actions, what difference is there between going 1st or 5th? it's all a cycle.
Been thinking of ways to make the Noble Genie work. The idea of a utility Warlock is a sound one and should be looked into, but 2 of the mechanics in this subclass really bother me. I think I've come up with some workable ideas by taking some new concept as well as some old ones from previous UAs.
Collector's Vessel: (Replace the random Perception boost to) you and the tethered individual each choose a skill you are proficient in during the tethering. Once the tether is made, you both add your charisma modifier to these two skills for the duration. So, for instance, you tether yourself to the parties rogue and they choose stealth and you choose perception. For the duration you both gain a benefit to these two skills. This will handily give a boost to something that you and your teammate might be weak in while also boosting your individual strengths (it also feels as if you are now truly bonded with this individual).
Protective Wish: This is actually close to being good, and it being able to be used without expending any resources is pretty great too (use armour of agathys and swap around to do damage and then swap back next turn), but it also requires a lot of set up... and Warlocks shouldn't be tanking so you would only really use this once a battle. If you are only really going to use this once a battle then why not add more to it? What if we took some of the functionality from the Seeker's Astral Refuge and added that in?
"You’re now able to use your Collector’s Vessel to wish for protection for yourself or your tethered creature. If you or the tethered creature is hit by an attack, you can use your reaction to disappear from the world for a brief moment and enter your patron’s court in the Elemental Planes, taking advantage of its timeless nature. While in your patron's court, you and your tethered can take 1 action each to cast spells, abilities, or items that target only the two of you. After using those two actions, you can either return to the space you occupied or swap places with the creature, switching which one of you is hit by the attack. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest "
Is this potentially OP? Probably. Is it way more fun and flavourful? Hell yeah. The time spent to actually spend an action to further prepare yourself actually FEELS like a protective wish. You could limit it to just one action too if one each is way too much.
The barbarian's morph attacks -- do you add you STR mod? For most attacks you do but these make no mention of it. The 4x 1d6+Str claw attacks at level 5 sounds nice along with the 1d12 reach tail.. but less so without damage mods (It doesn't say what it requires for attack rolls either). I know it's safe to assume but Crawford always says "It does what it says and not more or not less".... (ARE YOU PROFICIENT?! The Aarokocra & tabaxi claws both explicitly say that you're proficient)
The barbarian's morph attacks -- do you add you STR mod? For most attacks you do but these make no mention of it. The 4x 1d6+Str claw attacks at level 5 sounds nice along with the 1d12 reach tail.. but less so without damage mods (It doesn't say what it requires for attack rolls either). I know it's safe to assume but Crawford always says "It does what it says and not more or not less".... (ARE YOU PROFICIENT?! The Aarokocra & tabaxi claws both explicitly say that you're proficient)
They count as natural weapons so I assume you do. Otherwise, what is the point for a barbarian?
The first thought I had about Protective Wish: If you're a squishy warlock and you're fighting a bunch of guys, and one of them manages to break the front line and get up to you, that poor guy's going to be really surprised when he swings his sword at the warlock and POOF, there's a raging barbarian there instead. Comedy.
No, once you're in the combat cycle, you have an equal amount of time from turn to turn. early Initiative is only important on your first turn, so that you can get your first round of damage in early.
If you conceptualize initiative as a wheel instead of a line you realize that once the wheel starts turning the active player is always at the “top” of initiative, until the next character starts their turn and then they are at the “top” of the lineup like baseball.
If you conceptualize initiative as a wheel instead of a line you realize that once the wheel starts turning the active player is always at the “top” of initiative, until the next character starts their turn and then they are at the “top” of the lineup like baseball.
Yeah but let's not discount how important that first round can be. If you're a monk with 5 attacks. A sorcerer with a fire ball spell or an NPC monster with dominate person or stone gaze, that first round can mean everything.
You guys are overthinking this. Whether on round one or round ten, if you land the hit that kills the guy before he lands the hit that kills you, there is value.
You guys are overthinking this. Whether on round one or round ten, if you land the hit that kills the guy before he lands the hit that kills you, there is value.
But that's not anyone's point. The point is, if you go FIRST, you can potentially negate the enemy from attacking AT ALL, saving you and your team's precious hp.
It also matters if you want to set up something with your team mates. If you have mind sliver and your team wizard has hold monster BUT he goes first then that tactic is moot on the first round..
After the first, round it's just a race of who can hurt who more faster or even irrelevant in the 'set up' example above because after the first round it's cyclical & his/her turn will come before your next turn in the following round.
Anyways, I personally think that the potentially +5 to initiative is better than advantage. Supposedly, the average bonus of advantage is only 3.5 (and 5 with Elven Accuracy), besides the point that you can have a poor advantage roll too.
Plus are we forgetting that the 'standard max' init bonus without specific gear or abilities is only +5 for full dex characters any way? So on the average team this more than DOUBLES their base init mod, maybe even triples.
Respectfully, it has been my point since the beginning :)
Any time you have used at least as many if not more turns than your opponent at any point in time, you're better off for it. Now to your most recent statement, I believe having an aura that would potentially provide a bonus to nearby allies as well as yourself is very valuable both at the beginning of the round as well as during the fight for the purpose of teamwork. And nothing about that contradicts your point that it is even more valuable on the first round of combat where you can have allies assassinate and potentially kill or get an upper hand on an enemy before they can do anything.
Anyways, I personally think that the potentially +5 to initiative is better than advantage. Supposedly, the average bonus of advantage is only 3.5 (and 5 with Elven Accuracy), besides the point that you can have a poor advantage roll too.
Plus are we forgetting that the 'standard max' init bonus without specific gear or abilities is only +5 for full dex characters any way? So on the average team this more than DOUBLES their base init mod, maybe even triples.
This is a very good point for Paladins with 20 charisma.
The barbarian's morph attacks -- do you add you STR mod? For most attacks you do but these make no mention of it. The 4x 1d6+Str claw attacks at level 5 sounds nice along with the 1d12 reach tail.. but less so without damage mods (It doesn't say what it requires for attack rolls either). I know it's safe to assume but Crawford always says "It does what it says and not more or not less".... (ARE YOU PROFICIENT?! The Aarokocra & tabaxi claws both explicitly say that you're proficient)
It does say natural weapons and when you look at weapons the rules (online, I'm away from book right now) I don't think they say 1d6+str for a mace, it simply says 1d6 bludgeoning. So in this case the Claws also do 1d6 slashing damage and then the rules for smacking someone with a weapon apply.
Claws from Tabaxi and bites from Lizardfolk are considered 'Unarmed Attacks' however, and the rules for unarmed attacks specifically call out the strength modifier because the rule is changing "1+ str" to "1dX+str"
The question about 'Are you proficient?' is a good ask though, since it does not say you are proficient with the weapons you are forming, although one can certainly assume based on the natural weapons of monsters and their 'To Hit' modifiers.
Also, it's 3 Claw Attacks. Not 4. I had to read it a couple of times, but it says "you can make one additional attack using your claws as part of the same action" with the Action being the Attack Action itself, not the attacks you make during the action.
Still. Super awesome, and perfect for a Barbarian I was struggling to build and get excited about when my only logical option was Totem Warrior.
Which brings up another point, to those saying TW and Beast are too similar, they are close in theme, but the difference in my mind and the mechanics is distinct enough to make me hyped about a character I was struggling to get behind.
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Holy crap I completely missed the 3x damage to poisoned creatures. That's crazy good.
Well I slightly exaggerate it's 3 rolls of your martial arts die, not an automatic 3X. But still that's quite good.
I never thought about it that way. Seems to me like early [the potential for] initiative order is a good thing on every round of combat.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I would disagree. In the first round, it's great, because you can get damage in before you get hit. but once you are in initiative with no lair actions, what difference is there between going 1st or 5th? it's all a cycle.
How long does it usually take for new UA content to be available to use in character creation?
Been thinking of ways to make the Noble Genie work. The idea of a utility Warlock is a sound one and should be looked into, but 2 of the mechanics in this subclass really bother me. I think I've come up with some workable ideas by taking some new concept as well as some old ones from previous UAs.
Collector's Vessel: (Replace the random Perception boost to) you and the tethered individual each choose a skill you are proficient in during the tethering. Once the tether is made, you both add your charisma modifier to these two skills for the duration. So, for instance, you tether yourself to the parties rogue and they choose stealth and you choose perception. For the duration you both gain a benefit to these two skills. This will handily give a boost to something that you and your teammate might be weak in while also boosting your individual strengths (it also feels as if you are now truly bonded with this individual).
Protective Wish: This is actually close to being good, and it being able to be used without expending any resources is pretty great too (use armour of agathys and swap around to do damage and then swap back next turn), but it also requires a lot of set up... and Warlocks shouldn't be tanking so you would only really use this once a battle. If you are only really going to use this once a battle then why not add more to it? What if we took some of the functionality from the Seeker's Astral Refuge and added that in?
"You’re now able to use your Collector’s Vessel to wish for protection for yourself or your tethered creature. If you or the tethered creature is hit by an attack, you can use your reaction to disappear from the world for a brief moment and enter your patron’s court in the Elemental Planes, taking advantage of its timeless nature. While in your patron's court, you and your tethered can take 1 action each to cast spells, abilities, or items that target only the two of you. After using those two actions, you can either return to the space you occupied or swap places with the creature, switching which one of you is hit by the attack. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest "
Is this potentially OP? Probably. Is it way more fun and flavourful? Hell yeah. The time spent to actually spend an action to further prepare yourself actually FEELS like a protective wish. You could limit it to just one action too if one each is way too much.
We still don’t have Class Feature Variants or full Eberon Rising so....
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Yeah but the new Psionics stuff was up in less than a week. I expect the same for these as soon as they're done doing the Matt Mercer marketing cycle.
Also, what part of Eberron is missing?
The barbarian's morph attacks -- do you add you STR mod? For most attacks you do but these make no mention of it. The 4x 1d6+Str claw attacks at level 5 sounds nice along with the 1d12 reach tail.. but less so without damage mods (It doesn't say what it requires for attack rolls either). I know it's safe to assume but Crawford always says "It does what it says and not more or not less".... (ARE YOU PROFICIENT?! The Aarokocra & tabaxi claws both explicitly say that you're proficient)
They count as natural weapons so I assume you do. Otherwise, what is the point for a barbarian?
The first thought I had about Protective Wish: If you're a squishy warlock and you're fighting a bunch of guys, and one of them manages to break the front line and get up to you, that poor guy's going to be really surprised when he swings his sword at the warlock and POOF, there's a raging barbarian there instead. Comedy.
Partway through the quest for absolute truth.
but that's true for every round of combat.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
No, once you're in the combat cycle, you have an equal amount of time from turn to turn. early Initiative is only important on your first turn, so that you can get your first round of damage in early.
If you conceptualize initiative as a wheel instead of a line you realize that once the wheel starts turning the active player is always at the “top” of initiative, until the next character starts their turn and then they are at the “top” of the lineup like baseball.
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Yeah but let's not discount how important that first round can be. If you're a monk with 5 attacks. A sorcerer with a fire ball spell or an NPC monster with dominate person or stone gaze, that first round can mean everything.
You guys are overthinking this. Whether on round one or round ten, if you land the hit that kills the guy before he lands the hit that kills you, there is value.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
But that's not anyone's point. The point is, if you go FIRST, you can potentially negate the enemy from attacking AT ALL, saving you and your team's precious hp.
It also matters if you want to set up something with your team mates. If you have mind sliver and your team wizard has hold monster BUT he goes first then that tactic is moot on the first round..
After the first, round it's just a race of who can hurt who more faster or even irrelevant in the 'set up' example above because after the first round it's cyclical & his/her turn will come before your next turn in the following round.
Anyways, I personally think that the potentially +5 to initiative is better than advantage. Supposedly, the average bonus of advantage is only 3.5 (and 5 with Elven Accuracy), besides the point that you can have a poor advantage roll too.
Plus are we forgetting that the 'standard max' init bonus without specific gear or abilities is only +5 for full dex characters any way? So on the average team this more than DOUBLES their base init mod, maybe even triples.
Respectfully, it has been my point since the beginning :)
Any time you have used at least as many if not more turns than your opponent at any point in time, you're better off for it. Now to your most recent statement, I believe having an aura that would potentially provide a bonus to nearby allies as well as yourself is very valuable both at the beginning of the round as well as during the fight for the purpose of teamwork. And nothing about that contradicts your point that it is even more valuable on the first round of combat where you can have allies assassinate and potentially kill or get an upper hand on an enemy before they can do anything.
This is a very good point for Paladins with 20 charisma.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
It does say natural weapons and when you look at weapons the rules (online, I'm away from book right now) I don't think they say 1d6+str for a mace, it simply says 1d6 bludgeoning. So in this case the Claws also do 1d6 slashing damage and then the rules for smacking someone with a weapon apply.
Claws from Tabaxi and bites from Lizardfolk are considered 'Unarmed Attacks' however, and the rules for unarmed attacks specifically call out the strength modifier because the rule is changing "1+ str" to "1dX+str"
The question about 'Are you proficient?' is a good ask though, since it does not say you are proficient with the weapons you are forming, although one can certainly assume based on the natural weapons of monsters and their 'To Hit' modifiers.
Also, it's 3 Claw Attacks. Not 4. I had to read it a couple of times, but it says "you can make one additional attack using your claws as part of the same action" with the Action being the Attack Action itself, not the attacks you make during the action.
Still. Super awesome, and perfect for a Barbarian I was struggling to build and get excited about when my only logical option was Totem Warrior.
Which brings up another point, to those saying TW and Beast are too similar, they are close in theme, but the difference in my mind and the mechanics is distinct enough to make me hyped about a character I was struggling to get behind.