@Davavor

There's a lot of untapped potential in the idea of the Noble Genie that this UA just...kinda ignores.  Because people are all "MUH SUPPORT WORLAKKS" even though the class in general doesn't really work in that niche.  Glugh.

One of the things that they almost did right was the idea of the Pact boons changing based on your patron.  This thing, more than any other patron, is in a position to give gifts to its warlocks.  Like I said earlier, genies are as generous as they are greedy and those who give them gifts will receive gifts in turn.  The idea of your pact weapon or your Book of Shadows being an item from your patron's personal collection, loaned to you so long as you do your work well - or your familiar being a creature from the Genie's menagerie sent to serve you while you serve the Genie yourself - is so very much on point. 

Sadly, the structure of the warlock's subclasses doesn't readily allow for Boon-specific features, but I'd probably try and cram it in there with a shoehorn anyways.  Something like (off the top of my head, so very rough):

"Genie's Largesse"
At first level, you gain the use of a magical trinket, loaned to you from your patron's collection so long as you remain on good terms with it.  You can do stuff with it that's all cool and junk.  At third level, when you gain your pact Boon feature, your trinket is replaced by whatever item you choose, or by a servitor creature sent from your patron's menagerie, as your patron grants you greater gifts in return for your work.  Depending on which boon you choose, your trinket can do this other cool thing."

AAAAAARRRRGH still not available in character builder.

These things take a while to implement.  I wouldn't be surprised if it took another week before these latest UAs come online.

Man, the constant gnawing and gnashing and gnarling and snarling about an option not being in the builder yet is the worst part of this deluge of UA.

Concept for 1st level Genie Feature:

Bestow Gift:
As an action, you can grant both yourself and another willing creature within 100 feet of you a blessing from your patron. This gift lasts until either you and that creature are more than 100 feet away from each other, until either you or that creature drops to 0 hp, or until you finish a short or long rest. While under the effect of this ability:

You and that creature gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier at the beginning of each of your turns.

When you or that creature make an ability check or saving throw, add 1d4 to the number rolled.

Opportunity Attacks have disadvantage against both you and that creature.


Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you either finish a short or long rest, or offer an amount of nonmagical treasure worth at least 25 gp to your patron. Offering this treasure takes 1 minute, and you cannot be under this effect while doing it.

Here are my thoughts, I generally liked the subclasses, but some of them had some weird quirkiness to them.

Path of the Beast Barbarian- I love this one. I have said in a separate thread about how I would love a new Barbarian subclass that can turn into different animal forms in rage. The options inspire me so much with different character ideas. A drow Beast Barbarian that is essentially a were-spider, crawling on the ceiling, biting enemies and sucking out their life. A grung or bullywug Beast Barbarian that survived being attacked by a blue slaad and ended up growing claws (like the frogs that break their bones to grow claws) and jumps around the battlefield slashing enemies to bits. This subclass gives me so many ideas, and I am happy that they made it. If this doesn't end up coming out in the Xanathar's 2.0, I will be super mad.

Way of Mercy Monk- I also like this subclass, it feels a lot like Yin and Yang, this monk clearly has a very defined personality and is able to distinguish between right and wrong in an instant (or at least they pretend to). The poison cloud is kind of weird, but I like their "smiting" ability, and their healing hands is really useful as well. I'd love to play a Kalashtar Mercy Monk, with your Quori as the source of your healing and hurting powers.

Oath of the Watchers- This paladin subclass is kind of strange, they get a lot of spells that make you question whether paladins should be able to get those. Chromatic Orb? Banishment? Moonbeam? Sure, they make sense for the subclass's theme, but they don't seem that good for paladins. Their Aura is incredibly useful, but only once in each fight. I think this would be better as a Channel Divinity ability. Their Aura should give some penalty to extraplanar creatures within 10 feet, like disadvantage on attack rolls on any creature native to the current plane, or something like that. Their last 2 abilities are great, punish people for success, and banishment 20-30 times in a minute! These are both really nice and thematic.

Noble Genie Warlock- I understand the flaws of this warlock, but it needs to exist. That is my motto with the warlock, "If it can be a patron option, it should be". I would have preferred a Great Wyrm patron, or Primus as a patron, but this is what we got. Not much to say about this, doesn't make me excited, I'm just glad it exists for that one player that wants to be a Genasi that made a patron with their dad.

Quote from LeviRocks >>

Here are my thoughts, I generally liked the subclasses, but some of them had some weird quirkiness to them.

Path of the Beast Barbarian- I love this one. I have said in a separate thread about how I would love a new Barbarian subclass that can turn into different animal forms in rage. The options inspire me so much with different character ideas. A drow Beast Barbarian that is essentially a were-spider, crawling on the ceiling, biting enemies and sucking out their life. A grung or bullywug Beast Barbarian that survived being attacked by a blue slaad and ended up growing claws (like the frogs that break their bones to grow claws) and jumps around the battlefield slashing enemies to bits. This subclass gives me so many ideas, and I am happy that they made it. If this doesn't end up coming out in the Xanathar's 2.0, I 

 Ohh had written this of in favour of a barbarian battlemaster multiclass for a grappler, but after reading this I'd love to play a grung path of the beast "face hugger" if the dm allows the climb aboard rule. Jump on large beasts to gain advantage, lay into them with claws and hopefully poison them through skin contact. Granted there's a lot of enemies it won't work on but would be fun to play. 

Here's the thing with "if it can be a patron option, it should be".

That's already the case.

There is absolutely nothing stopping you from saying that your genasi's patron is your genie ancestor, even if you use the Archfey or Hexblade statblock.  Genies are broadly similar enough to Archfey to work, and the Hexblade is the "you have a weird patron?  Go here - we can figure something out!" option.

Reskinning existing patron options for similar creatures is a definitively better option than allowing utter dogshyte patrons in that add nothing to Warlock as a whole, just so you can say your patron is special just for you.  That's what homebrew is fore, and this 'Noble Genie' thing is pretty much just bad homebrew.

The genie patron for the Warlock and the beast subclass for the Barbarian (at least how it is described) both scream desert to me so that can be a hint of something to come. My biggest wonder is what will be in part 2 and will it only be a 2 part UA or will it be 3 or even 4?

Quote from Yurei1453 >>

Here's the thing with "if it can be a patron option, it should be".

That's already the case.

There is absolutely nothing stopping you from saying that your genasi's patron is your genie ancestor, even if you use the Archfey or Hexblade statblock.  Genies are broadly similar enough to Archfey to work, and the Hexblade is the "you have a weird patron?  Go here - we can figure something out!" option.

Reskinning existing patron options for similar creatures is a definitively better option than allowing utter dogshyte patrons in that add nothing to Warlock as a whole, just so you can say your patron is special just for you.  That's what homebrew is fore, and this 'Noble Genie' thing is pretty much just bad homebrew.

 Agreed, just letting options in is how we got the Undying. Having a Lich or Undead creature as a patron is a fantastic design space but when I look at those mechanics I'll just use the Hexblade thank you.

But once the survey comes out I am not gonna say "dissatisfied" across the board... I'm gonna write down what needs to be fixed and hopefully they'll just send it back to the drawing board and give it better mechanics. I say this knowing full well it won't happen...but an illithid can dream * stares longingly at the elemental sorcerer options that never made it through *

Quote from Bunsenburner03 >>

Concept for 1st level Genie Feature:

Bestow Gift:
As an action, you can grant both yourself and another willing creature within 100 feet of you a blessing from your patron. This gift lasts until either you and that creature are more than 100 feet away from each other, until either you or that creature drops to 0 hp, or until you finish a short or long rest. While under the effect of this ability:

You and that creature gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier at the beginning of each of your turns.

When you or that creature make an ability check or saving throw, add 1d4 to the number rolled.

Opportunity Attacks have disadvantage against both you and that creature.


Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you either finish a short or long rest, or offer an amount of nonmagical treasure worth at least 25 gp to your patron. Offering this treasure takes 1 minute, and you cannot be under this effect while doing it.

 See, these might need some tuning, but slap some of these options onto the Collector's Vessel feature and you have something way more interesting than "dis magic extension cord sure do make my peepers look good" 

Was also thinking about the whole Elemental Resistance feature. I'm not mad about it, but what if it also made it so that if either of you were hit with the chosen type of element you get a certain amount of that damage to either send back at the opponent on your next spell/melee attack OR receive temp hit points from it.  There are so many exciting directions you can take this concept, they clearly just couldn't decide and through darts at a board. 

Personally I think they should stick with you being a Courtier of this being with phenomenal cosmic power, itty bitty living space and, through feeding wealth and magic through your vessel/artifact, receive a piece of that power to dole out to your friends. Save the elemental stuff for a future Elder Dragon Patron or something of the like. 

I mean, I feel that elemental resistance is great honestly, it makes sense for a patron from the elemental planes. Protective wish should be changed, or rewritten in a way that makes more sense for the genie. I honestly don't mind the 14th level feature, but I wish you could do something like create nonmagical items worth the amount of gold you put in, or an uncommon magic item which lasts until you use the feature again or something.

Quote from VikingEric >>

Quote from Guytza >>

Quote from EddyJ >>

You are naturally proficient with your unarmed strikes, which is what these are. The Tabaxi, Aaracokra, etc. all have natural weapons that count as unarmed strikes. In those cases, it specifically states that you're proficient with those as a point of clarification, not because without that line you would not have that proficiency.... at least, that's how I understand it.

 Small miscalculation, the term 'unarmed strikes' is not used in any way in the Path of the Beast. Instead it specifically says you manifest a natural melee weapon. So it's more like a Warlock summoning up their Pact Blade than a Tabaxi lashing out with their claws. The difference here is that when using the attacks, you are making 'Melee Weapon Attacks with a Weapon' as opposed to 'Melee Weapon Attack using Unarmed Strike' and certain abilities specifically call out the use of a weapon and not unarmed strikes. (trust me there have been volumes written on this confusing combination of terms).

 

wait. does that mean that a longtooth shifters bite doesn't get rage damage added?

 You're covered either way.

"Melee Weapon Attacks" are one of 4 types of Attacks. 'Melee Weapon", "Ranged Weapon", "Melee Spell", and "Ranged Spell".

A strike with a weapon is a "Melee Weapon Attack", an unarmed Strike is ALSO a "Melee Weapon Attack" because it's not like it could possibly be one of the other 3, right?

The last I looked, the Longtooth Bite is an Unarmed Strike which is a "Melee Weapon Attack"

So the last part is if Rage applies, well rage says specifically it applies to all "Melee Weapon Attacks" that use Strength as their modifier.

And it's funny you brought up the longtooth shifter beast mode barbarian as that is very likely the character I'm making for the next campaign once my current one ends. 

it's what I'm playing now so I was considering changing.

Quote from Guytza >>

Quote from VikingEric >>

Quote from Guytza >>

Quote from EddyJ >>

You are naturally proficient with your unarmed strikes, which is what these are. The Tabaxi, Aaracokra, etc. all have natural weapons that count as unarmed strikes. In those cases, it specifically states that you're proficient with those as a point of clarification, not because without that line you would not have that proficiency.... at least, that's how I understand it.

 Small miscalculation, the term 'unarmed strikes' is not used in any way in the Path of the Beast. Instead it specifically says you manifest a natural melee weapon. So it's more like a Warlock summoning up their Pact Blade than a Tabaxi lashing out with their claws. The difference here is that when using the attacks, you are making 'Melee Weapon Attacks with a Weapon' as opposed to 'Melee Weapon Attack using Unarmed Strike' and certain abilities specifically call out the use of a weapon and not unarmed strikes. (trust me there have been volumes written on this confusing combination of terms).

 

wait. does that mean that a longtooth shifters bite doesn't get rage damage added?

 You're covered either way.

"Melee Weapon Attacks" are one of 4 types of Attacks. 'Melee Weapon", "Ranged Weapon", "Melee Spell", and "Ranged Spell".

A strike with a weapon is a "Melee Weapon Attack", an unarmed Strike is ALSO a "Melee Weapon Attack" because it's not like it could possibly be one of the other 3, right?

The last I looked, the Longtooth Bite is an Unarmed Strike which is a "Melee Weapon Attack"

So the last part is if Rage applies, well rage says specifically it applies to all "Melee Weapon Attacks" that use Strength as their modifier.

And it's funny you brought up the longtooth shifter beast mode barbarian as that is very likely the character I'm making for the next campaign once my current one ends. 

I am underwhelmed by the new Warlock, it deserves to be better, but I do think it would be great flavorwise to be a Pact of the Chain warlock, as you are chained to your genie, and your familiar is chained to you. This just seems to fit in thematically with genies.

I love the Beast barbarian, now we just need a barbarian that is good at punching.

The monk needs a bit of fixing, the poison cloud is strange, and it can hurt your allies.

The paladin is also strange, I want some spells changed, and some overall quirkiness fixed.

Overall, the new UA was "meh", okay. I'm happy for the new options, just a few things need to be worked out.

Quote from LeviRocks >>

I am underwhelmed by the new Warlock, it deserves to be better, but I do think it would be great flavorwise to be a Pact of the Chain warlock, as you are chained to your genie, and your familiar is chained to you. This just seems to fit in thematically with genies.

I love the Beast barbarian, now we just need a barbarian that is good at punching.

The monk needs a bit of fixing, the poison cloud is strange, and it can hurt your allies.

The paladin is also strange, I want some spells changed, and some overall quirkiness fixed.

Overall, the new UA was "meh", okay. I'm happy for the new options, just a few things need to be worked out.

I think that's a fair assessment. I personally felt that the barbarian and the warlock were the most appealing (but unfortunately the Warlock is a bit weak). I really like the beast barbarian, I always wanted a bestial barbarian that wasn't a spiritualist, and to be honest I always feel like I would be wasting my time playing a totem barbarian if I didn't choose the bear spirit for my first totem, just because it's that good. 

Quote from Deadseven >>

Quote from LeviRocks >>

I am underwhelmed by the new Warlock, it deserves to be better, but I do think it would be great flavorwise to be a Pact of the Chain warlock, as you are chained to your genie, and your familiar is chained to you. This just seems to fit in thematically with genies.

I love the Beast barbarian, now we just need a barbarian that is good at punching.

The monk needs a bit of fixing, the poison cloud is strange, and it can hurt your allies.

The paladin is also strange, I want some spells changed, and some overall quirkiness fixed.

Overall, the new UA was "meh", okay. I'm happy for the new options, just a few things need to be worked out.

 

I think that's a fair assessment. I personally felt that the barbarian and the warlock were the most appealing (but unfortunately the Warlock is a bit weak). I really like the beast barbarian, I always wanted a bestial barbarian that wasn't a spiritualist, and to be honest I always feel like I would be wasting my time playing a totem barbarian if I didn't choose the bear spirit for my first totem, just because it's that good. 

 I know, I feel this subclass almost matches up with the Bear Totem Barbarian, and will actually be chosen almost as frequently as Bear Totem.

Beastbarian gets a bump to their nova damage at level 10 that can drop three claw attacks and add 2d12 psychic damage to each of them.