The level 10 Phantom really went smoothly. The extra damage 4 times per long rest was nice but fairly insignificant to the overall adventure. The Tokens were not useful in any meaningful way. Maybe our game tomorrow they may make a difference since he will have the Ghost Walk ability.
The level 10 Scribe was hit or miss. The Quill was fairly pointless and had no impact on the adventure. Using the book as a spell focus was "cool" but again meaningless as it was just like any other focus. The "Ritual" bonus spell was nice, saved a spell slot and some time. The free up casted spell scroll basically provided an extra 3rd level slot for a 2nd level spell. That brings the total up to 2 extra spell slots (not too big of a deal in my opinion). The altered spell damage did make some encounters a little easier for the party as a whole. 3 ghosts and a banshee taken out turn 1 by a 4th level Force Ball and a little light clean up from the rest of the group. 2 Wraiths and and some specters fared little better. Didn't have much impact on the Vampire and her henchmen.
So hopefully someone can clarify something for me.
The Manifest Mind is an intangible object, so what can target it to do damage? Why does it need AC and hit points if it is intangible?
In the previous version (the Archivist) the Manifest Mind was intangible, invulnerable and the Archivist could use a pseudo-cantrip attack through it without limit in addition to the other abilities listed in the current Manifest Mind in the Scribe.
Giving it HP, AC and saving throws is probably in reaction to feedback saying it's invulnerability was too much.
I just re-read the Archivist to understand why this Wizard sub-class was so salt inducing and yeah, I can see why Archivist Artificer lovers have their panties in a knot. To be honest with a bit of reworking I can see how there is room for both subclass concepts. The way I interpret The Archivist is someone who is mastering information and artificial intelligence, while the Scribe is mastering the physical art of magical writing as applied to Spellbooks. Two related but different concepts. While I won't go in to how I would rework the Archivist (that is not the topic of this thread) I have some ideas on how to change/tweak the Scribe.
1> Wizardly Quill: Mostly fine, but I would change it so it only halves the cost of scribing spells into your spellbook. It still takes the normal amount of time. The quill makes its own ink, so you are saving money there, but you still have to physically write everything down.
2> Awakened Spellbook: Using your spellbook as a casting focus is perfectly fine. Changing damage types needs some heavy nerfs. I would change it to (X) times per Long Rest at minimum. I would also probably say the Damage type you want to change the spell to must be from a spell of the same level. Or possibly make it an actual swap that is decided when prepared so if you want a Force Fireball for the day, one of your prepped Force damage spells will have to do Fire damage. I'd also disallow this with Chromatic Orb. The damage type of Chromatic Orb isn't set when prepping the spell but on casting it so my logic states that it doesn't have a damage type until it is actually cast. I would alter the ritual casting reduction to only halve the ritual time. A nice bonus but still gives a reason to cast prepped ritual spells through slots in a pinch. The Spellbook replacement mechanic is a doozy. In reality, how often does one need to replace their spellbook? Its pretty much limited to DM fiat. Personally I would change this to 2 or 3 (Maybe 1d4) days to recreate the book. Not being able to change prepared spells for 2 or 3 days feels punishing enough for losing one's spellbook without making it trivial.
3> Master Scriviner: I'm okay with this as written although if you adjusted the second half to remove the time reduction on creating scrolls I wouldn't be too upset.
4>Manifest Mind: This whole ability is a miss for me. There is nothing about this ability that speaks to the concept of a master of written magic. Note I am not saying that the ability in and of itself is bad, just inappropriate for this subclass. Give it back to the Artificer or make a Familiar master subclass and stick it there. In its place I would give the scribe the ability to make a notation in his spellbook about an enemy he can see, using his wizardly quill. While this notation remains in the book the wizard has advantage on all attack rolls with spells (as long as the spell is in his spellbook) against the target of this ability and the target has disadvantage on all his saving throws and ability checks related to spells cast. You can only have one notation in your book at a time and it lasts until you take notes on a different target, the target is dead or you take a long rest. Perhaps limit the amount of times you can do this per long rest too.
5>One with the Word: So the teleporting portion of this should be scrapped. At this point the wizard should have any number of teleporting/movement spells anyways. I’m not sure what should replace the teleporting, but it should be something that improves or plays off of whatever replaces Manifest Mind. The real meat of this ability however is the resurrection ability. It is far too punishing. I get that turning your spellbook into a horcrux should have a cost but no other class or subclass that I know of has the cost of permanently removing class ability resources from the character. My initial though was the spells still get wiped out of the book and for the next month the character is incapable of relearning them this represents the character’s “soul” healing from the damage it took when the horcrux-effect activated. After that the character can relearn and re-scribe the spells back into his book (once he gets copies of them) but instead of getting a cost and/or time break, it costs double and takes twice as long? I dunno, it’s a spitball though.
Anyway, those are some of my thoughts, your mileage may vary.
Phantom: I really like the flavour of Whispers of the Dead, it allows the PC to get super creative with past victims. I enjoy the idea of a bad-ass ghost assassin who once killed a chef, so now he can cook a perfect Soufflé.
Wails from the grave is okay, I'm not crazy about it. My rogue flavoured it as her character looking to another victim and saying "You're next." It made her feel a little more useful as a martial class with only one attack. Personally, I would maybe change it to more of a ranger-esk ability. To mark someones soul as a bonus action, dealing extra sneak attack damage, and allowing them to track the victim.
Tokens of the Departed seems a little weird. Again, I love the flavour, but there is no incentive to have multiple. You only need one to be able to get the ADV on con and death saves, and being able to ask one question, to a spirit that will keep an answer brief and potentially not truthful, seems slightly pointless. Maybe you get a +1 bonus to death and con saves per soul, to a maximum of your proficiency, and make the spirit only answer yes or no, but has to be truthful and can only answer what they know. The scaling bonus increases incentive, and making the question truthful will force the PC to actually debate if the +1 is worth a potentially crucial piece of information. Alternatively, allow the rogue to expend one to increase the damage of death wale.
Ghost Walk is cool, and seems fairly balanced. Again, I think giving the Tokens a scaling bonus will make the rogue have to weigh up options more. At Level 13 proficiency bonus is at 5, as tokens currently work, the four after the first will only be useful for 10 minuets of limited flight and DISADV on all attacks against you.
Death Knell essentially turns 9d6 into 13d6 for sneak attack. Which is incredibly desirable. But stabbing someone, causing them to scream out so loud that they damage themselves, seems a little weird thematically. This is one of the small issues with Wails from the Grave, to me, ghost assassins will typically have one target in mind, and having them cry out to deal more damage will draw attention to an assassination. But this is all my opinion.
Genie: I adore this subclass, to the point I made a whole new character just to be able to play it. The genie specific spells all make sense, and allow for a lot of variation within the subclass. The Vessel is cool as well, with respite and wrath being very handy at lower levels. The whole sub-class works well, with limited wish really making this warlock subclass a powerful one. But the 1d4 rests limit that power well, true to warlock form, and I can't wait to play this class.
Scribes: Wizardly Quill and Awakened Spellbook I think work very nicely. Its been mentioned before on the forum that the quill should only really reduce cost of copying spells, I think a universal half cost is just as good as a school specific half cost and time. Using the book as a casting focus I really liked, and I've home-brewed a game before where a player wanted their book to be their focus, so it is a great addition that can really help flavour the subclass. Replacing damage type is good, but slightly overpowered in my opinion, a simple fix would be x number of times equal to intelligence modifier. And the quickened ritual is a very nice addition as well.
Master Scrivener is great, but needs a little tweaking. The fact that you write a first level spell, then it suddenly becomes upcast to a second level seems a little bizarre. And I understand it will be written in the specific wizards shorthand, but to be unintelligible to other PC's seems like a missed opportunity. With Wizards being the big utility caster, I think it would play into their play style to be able to produce a scroll others could use. Artificers get Spell Storing Item, which is an incredible feature unique to the class, but I think giving the order of scribes a way to aid their party would be a nice and unique way to differentiate them from the sub-classes. Personally, I would make it so the wizard can produce one spell scroll of 1st or 2nd level, that any other PC can read, regardless of class. The scribe can take time to explain to other classes how interpret his shorthand, even say it take 10 minuets to educate the PC.
I think Manifest Mind is where this subclass really falls down. There has been a real push for a class to summon a spectral artificial intelligence, and I personally don't see the appeal. I would personally take this sub-class a much different way.
The name Order of Scrolls implies this is a group of incredibly powerful wizards and scholars, who all have these awakened spell books, yet the sub-class has no method of building on that. I would look at 10th level giving the Wizard an Exalted Spellbook. Their spellbook is now fully awakened, and allows them to connect to other Order of Scribes mages. This allows the caster to cast Sending without using a spell slot by writing into their spellbook. This reaches the Order of Scribes, and they can reply imparting knowledge into their Exalted Spellbook. This can be anything to a modified Legend Lore, as the arcane scholars share their vast knowledge to the caster. Or even allowing the caster to request new spells, provided they know the spell exists. Below is something I've whipped up on the spot, it probably won't be balanced, but its a better starting point I think.
'You can now use your Exalted Spellbook to call upon the vast knowledge of the Order of Scribes. At the end of each long rest, you write a message to the Order of Scribes, calling upon them for knowledge. You can choose one of the following options: You gain proficiency and expertise in three skills of your choice, this lasts until your next long rest. You cast Legend Lore without the need for material components, your Spellbook suddenly fills with written notes and teachings from far and wide, educating you on the subject you asked for. Or you can choose one spell of 5th level or lower from the wizard spell list that you do not have in your Spellbook, this spell appears in your Spellbook as a member shares their knowledge with you. This spell can only be cast once at its base level, and cannot be copied into your Spellbook from this feature.'
One with the Word is again a weird one for me, the teleportation seems very out of place, and cheating death by loosing 3d6 levels of spell seems just a little off. I would make One with the Word a state, lasting for one minuet, in which the casters body gets covered in tattoos of the spells inscribed onto them. For the next minuet, their body is their spell casting focus, acting as a +3 arcane focus, and they can cast any spell in their book, regardless of if it is prepared. This only lasts its duration if their spell book is on their person at all times
Again, this is a little something coming off my head, but having a wizard coming from a secret order, I feel they should get some features attributed to the order.
Anyone know how to get wish on your spell list when making a genie warlock? I don’t see it at all. All my spells go to 5th level and the 9th level mystic arcanum doesn’t have Wish there either
Anyone know how to get wish on your spell list when making a genie warlock? I don’t see it at all. All my spells go to 5th level and the 9th level mystic arcanum doesn’t have Wish there either
Anyone know how to get wish on your spell list when making a genie warlock? I don’t see it at all. All my spells go to 5th level and the 9th level mystic arcanum doesn’t have Wish there either
Anyone know how to get wish on your spell list when making a genie warlock? I don’t see it at all. All my spells go to 5th level and the 9th level mystic arcanum doesn’t have Wish there either
The Phantom Rogue is cool, but has some small parts that could use fixes or changes.
The Genie Warlock is good, but the proficiency bonus based abilities are something to keep an eye on.
The Order of Scribes Wizard is a mess. Overall, most of the abilities need to change or just become overall wizard abilities. The damage-swapping is broken, the AI spellbook is strange, and the capstone ability is so bad that you hope you never have to use it.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
The Phantom Rogue is cool, but has some small parts that could use fixes or changes.
The Genie Warlock is good, but the proficiency bonus based abilities are something to keep an eye on.
The Order of Scribes Wizard is a mess. Overall, most of the abilities need to change or just become overall wizard abilities. The damage-swapping is broken, the AI spellbook is strange, and the capstone ability is so bad that you hope you never have to use it.
The Phantom Rogue is cool, but has some small parts that could use fixes or changes.
The Genie Warlock is good, but the proficiency bonus based abilities are something to keep an eye on.
The Order of Scribes Wizard is a mess. Overall, most of the abilities need to change or just become overall wizard abilities. The damage-swapping is broken, the AI spellbook is strange, and the capstone ability is so bad that you hope you never have to use it.
It's only been out for about a week, so it'll be awhile until the next UA comes out or till we can do the survey. I would recommend to anyone who doesn't know about it that we have a thread dedicated to predicting upcoming Unearthed Arcana. Some of the predictions have even been right before.
The Phantom Rogue is cool, but has some small parts that could use fixes or changes.
The Genie Warlock is good, but the proficiency bonus based abilities are something to keep an eye on.
The Order of Scribes Wizard is a mess. Overall, most of the abilities need to change or just become overall wizard abilities. The damage-swapping is broken, the AI spellbook is strange, and the capstone ability is so bad that you hope you never have to use it.
Pretty much 100% agree.
Ditto
I myself really like the Wizard, and I never really diged the Artificer version and I am hoping for more Artificer subclasses coming hopefully but I am very happy with Armorer.
(I’m currently running a lvl 10 Bladesinger though ToA, and in terms of broken Wizard subclasses, Bladesinger has to be far out there. Damage swapping doesn’t come close)
For all that I love playing wizards, I do feel Scribe should have remained an Artificer subclass. But if we’re going with The Wizards of Shorthand as a subclass, this one’s not too bad as a first pass. Needs more work, but there’s been worse.
Wizardly Quill: pretty much fluff, with her bonus of reduced transcription costs. Using your fancy quill should probably grant proficiency for calligraphy tool checks. One thing that comes to mind here is that this class will be really reliant on a GM who hands out varied spellbooks and similar resources frequently. If you’re not finding lots of spells to add, or you’re not finding the ‘right’ spells, you’re going to be hamstrung as a scribe (and in both the campaigns I’ve run and played in, spells weren’t a common loot option before circa level 8. I’ve four copies of Detect Magic in the five spellbooks I’ve found).
Awakened Spellbook: Fluffwise, I love the idea of this. Spellbooks should have been a spellcasting focus anyway (granted, one that comes with the risk of your book being fireballed while you’re skim-reading), a book that’s been subject to so much magic that it’s become a bit alive itself is very Unseen University, and a free ritual isn’t an unreasonable boon from Arcane Siri. But in-game, the rest of this bumps up against the nature of prepared spells for me. If my spellbook is alive and reactive, so that it can change what’s on the page and I can cast a psychic meteor storm or acidic mind spike, why do I have to prepare anyway? Can’t it just present me with whatever spell I need? Or if I have bookmarked the spells I need today, reminded myself of the difference in the incantations between thunder and lightning, and and got the awakened spellbook to focus on those spells, why’s it going dumpster-diving through Blade Ward, Skywrite, Floating Disc and Jump, when what I need right this second is the rune for radiant damage, since that seemed more effective last round? So I would change the damage swapping to prepared spells, and possibly also with a int mod limit on the number of times a day - hot swapping damage mid-incantation is not an easy trick, or everyone would be doing it, and Wizardkind would have codified those thunderous ice knives and psychic tidal waves into new spells that could be used everyone.
Master Scrivener: A free ring of minor spell storing, in addition to the free ritual slot from earlier is quite generous, but functionally adds up to an additional arcane recovery. Nice to have.
Manifest Mind: Spectral familiar. Very Artificery, and not notably rejigged for the move from Artificer to Wizard subclass. Doesn’t actually fit too well with the class theme - ie, me and my magic writing skills. Are there many sentient items that can project themselves in this way, because a book manifesting a spectral variant of itself doesn’t seem to flow well. In the same way that many of the recent UAs have focused on adding pets/minions to your character, this starts to shift focus away from the character themselves to their coterie. Also, I’m going to need a statblock for my sentient book, much as I do for the fighter’s sentient sword
One with the Mind: Again, am I the wizard, or is it my spellbook that’s the power here? The functionality is nice - almost a limited phylactery, and I don’t mind the cost of the resurrection - even with stingy spell finds, there’ll still be some I don’t need any more in my spellbook, and I’ll cheerfully sacrifice my ability to ever cast Mordenkainen’s Sword before I let the Druid practice Reincarnation on me.
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This is what happened in our Saturday night game.
The level 10 Phantom really went smoothly. The extra damage 4 times per long rest was nice but fairly insignificant to the overall adventure. The Tokens were not useful in any meaningful way. Maybe our game tomorrow they may make a difference since he will have the Ghost Walk ability.
The level 10 Scribe was hit or miss. The Quill was fairly pointless and had no impact on the adventure. Using the book as a spell focus was "cool" but again meaningless as it was just like any other focus. The "Ritual" bonus spell was nice, saved a spell slot and some time. The free up casted spell scroll basically provided an extra 3rd level slot for a 2nd level spell. That brings the total up to 2 extra spell slots (not too big of a deal in my opinion). The altered spell damage did make some encounters a little easier for the party as a whole. 3 ghosts and a banshee taken out turn 1 by a 4th level Force Ball and a little light clean up from the rest of the group. 2 Wraiths and and some specters fared little better. Didn't have much impact on the Vampire and her henchmen.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
So hopefully someone can clarify something for me.
The Manifest Mind is an intangible object, so what can target it to do damage? Why does it need AC and hit points if it is intangible?
In the previous version (the Archivist) the Manifest Mind was intangible, invulnerable and the Archivist could use a pseudo-cantrip attack through it without limit in addition to the other abilities listed in the current Manifest Mind in the Scribe.
Giving it HP, AC and saving throws is probably in reaction to feedback saying it's invulnerability was too much.
But, how do you target an intangible?
A healing spirit is intangible, it has no stats, but doesn't says its invulnerable. Can you do anything to it? Doesn't say you can.
However, a 7th level Project Image spells, makes an intangible image with no stats, yet if it "takes any damage" it is destroyed.
How do you do damage do something that is "unable to be touched or grasped; not having physical presence."
They need to clarify what "intangible" means in D&D.
There are several spells that can target and damage objects.or intangible objects.
Intangible
How do you affect an intangible object (or creature)? Magic. That is why there is magic in D&D. To do what would normally impossible.
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
so can i use magic to kill your healing spirit? it doesn't say that it is invulnerable, but it has no ac or hitpoints
I would simply say that it has ac 10 plus wis modifier, and hp equal to half of the druids. That seems like a quick fix.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
Thanks to illness, our level 15 One-shot for today has been cancelled.
At least we got to do level 5 and 10 play testing. We plan to do more later in the week. Has anyone else done any play testing?
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I just re-read the Archivist to understand why this Wizard sub-class was so salt inducing and yeah, I can see why Archivist Artificer lovers have their panties in a knot. To be honest with a bit of reworking I can see how there is room for both subclass concepts. The way I interpret The Archivist is someone who is mastering information and artificial intelligence, while the Scribe is mastering the physical art of magical writing as applied to Spellbooks. Two related but different concepts. While I won't go in to how I would rework the Archivist (that is not the topic of this thread) I have some ideas on how to change/tweak the Scribe.
1> Wizardly Quill: Mostly fine, but I would change it so it only halves the cost of scribing spells into your spellbook. It still takes the normal amount of time. The quill makes its own ink, so you are saving money there, but you still have to physically write everything down.
2> Awakened Spellbook: Using your spellbook as a casting focus is perfectly fine. Changing damage types needs some heavy nerfs. I would change it to (X) times per Long Rest at minimum. I would also probably say the Damage type you want to change the spell to must be from a spell of the same level. Or possibly make it an actual swap that is decided when prepared so if you want a Force Fireball for the day, one of your prepped Force damage spells will have to do Fire damage. I'd also disallow this with Chromatic Orb. The damage type of Chromatic Orb isn't set when prepping the spell but on casting it so my logic states that it doesn't have a damage type until it is actually cast. I would alter the ritual casting reduction to only halve the ritual time. A nice bonus but still gives a reason to cast prepped ritual spells through slots in a pinch. The Spellbook replacement mechanic is a doozy. In reality, how often does one need to replace their spellbook? Its pretty much limited to DM fiat. Personally I would change this to 2 or 3 (Maybe 1d4) days to recreate the book. Not being able to change prepared spells for 2 or 3 days feels punishing enough for losing one's spellbook without making it trivial.
3> Master Scriviner: I'm okay with this as written although if you adjusted the second half to remove the time reduction on creating scrolls I wouldn't be too upset.
4>Manifest Mind: This whole ability is a miss for me. There is nothing about this ability that speaks to the concept of a master of written magic. Note I am not saying that the ability in and of itself is bad, just inappropriate for this subclass. Give it back to the Artificer or make a Familiar master subclass and stick it there. In its place I would give the scribe the ability to make a notation in his spellbook about an enemy he can see, using his wizardly quill. While this notation remains in the book the wizard has advantage on all attack rolls with spells (as long as the spell is in his spellbook) against the target of this ability and the target has disadvantage on all his saving throws and ability checks related to spells cast. You can only have one notation in your book at a time and it lasts until you take notes on a different target, the target is dead or you take a long rest. Perhaps limit the amount of times you can do this per long rest too.
5>One with the Word: So the teleporting portion of this should be scrapped. At this point the wizard should have any number of teleporting/movement spells anyways. I’m not sure what should replace the teleporting, but it should be something that improves or plays off of whatever replaces Manifest Mind. The real meat of this ability however is the resurrection ability. It is far too punishing. I get that turning your spellbook into a horcrux should have a cost but no other class or subclass that I know of has the cost of permanently removing class ability resources from the character. My initial though was the spells still get wiped out of the book and for the next month the character is incapable of relearning them this represents the character’s “soul” healing from the damage it took when the horcrux-effect activated. After that the character can relearn and re-scribe the spells back into his book (once he gets copies of them) but instead of getting a cost and/or time break, it costs double and takes twice as long? I dunno, it’s a spitball though.
Anyway, those are some of my thoughts, your mileage may vary.
Phantom:
I really like the flavour of Whispers of the Dead, it allows the PC to get super creative with past victims. I enjoy the idea of a bad-ass ghost assassin who once killed a chef, so now he can cook a perfect Soufflé.
Wails from the grave is okay, I'm not crazy about it. My rogue flavoured it as her character looking to another victim and saying "You're next." It made her feel a little more useful as a martial class with only one attack. Personally, I would maybe change it to more of a ranger-esk ability. To mark someones soul as a bonus action, dealing extra sneak attack damage, and allowing them to track the victim.
Tokens of the Departed seems a little weird. Again, I love the flavour, but there is no incentive to have multiple. You only need one to be able to get the ADV on con and death saves, and being able to ask one question, to a spirit that will keep an answer brief and potentially not truthful, seems slightly pointless. Maybe you get a +1 bonus to death and con saves per soul, to a maximum of your proficiency, and make the spirit only answer yes or no, but has to be truthful and can only answer what they know. The scaling bonus increases incentive, and making the question truthful will force the PC to actually debate if the +1 is worth a potentially crucial piece of information. Alternatively, allow the rogue to expend one to increase the damage of death wale.
Ghost Walk is cool, and seems fairly balanced. Again, I think giving the Tokens a scaling bonus will make the rogue have to weigh up options more. At Level 13 proficiency bonus is at 5, as tokens currently work, the four after the first will only be useful for 10 minuets of limited flight and DISADV on all attacks against you.
Death Knell essentially turns 9d6 into 13d6 for sneak attack. Which is incredibly desirable. But stabbing someone, causing them to scream out so loud that they damage themselves, seems a little weird thematically. This is one of the small issues with Wails from the Grave, to me, ghost assassins will typically have one target in mind, and having them cry out to deal more damage will draw attention to an assassination. But this is all my opinion.
Genie:
I adore this subclass, to the point I made a whole new character just to be able to play it. The genie specific spells all make sense, and allow for a lot of variation within the subclass. The Vessel is cool as well, with respite and wrath being very handy at lower levels. The whole sub-class works well, with limited wish really making this warlock subclass a powerful one. But the 1d4 rests limit that power well, true to warlock form, and I can't wait to play this class.
Scribes:
Wizardly Quill and Awakened Spellbook I think work very nicely. Its been mentioned before on the forum that the quill should only really reduce cost of copying spells, I think a universal half cost is just as good as a school specific half cost and time. Using the book as a casting focus I really liked, and I've home-brewed a game before where a player wanted their book to be their focus, so it is a great addition that can really help flavour the subclass. Replacing damage type is good, but slightly overpowered in my opinion, a simple fix would be x number of times equal to intelligence modifier. And the quickened ritual is a very nice addition as well.
Master Scrivener is great, but needs a little tweaking. The fact that you write a first level spell, then it suddenly becomes upcast to a second level seems a little bizarre. And I understand it will be written in the specific wizards shorthand, but to be unintelligible to other PC's seems like a missed opportunity. With Wizards being the big utility caster, I think it would play into their play style to be able to produce a scroll others could use. Artificers get Spell Storing Item, which is an incredible feature unique to the class, but I think giving the order of scribes a way to aid their party would be a nice and unique way to differentiate them from the sub-classes. Personally, I would make it so the wizard can produce one spell scroll of 1st or 2nd level, that any other PC can read, regardless of class. The scribe can take time to explain to other classes how interpret his shorthand, even say it take 10 minuets to educate the PC.
I think Manifest Mind is where this subclass really falls down. There has been a real push for a class to summon a spectral artificial intelligence, and I personally don't see the appeal. I would personally take this sub-class a much different way.
The name Order of Scrolls implies this is a group of incredibly powerful wizards and scholars, who all have these awakened spell books, yet the sub-class has no method of building on that. I would look at 10th level giving the Wizard an Exalted Spellbook. Their spellbook is now fully awakened, and allows them to connect to other Order of Scribes mages. This allows the caster to cast Sending without using a spell slot by writing into their spellbook. This reaches the Order of Scribes, and they can reply imparting knowledge into their Exalted Spellbook. This can be anything to a modified Legend Lore, as the arcane scholars share their vast knowledge to the caster. Or even allowing the caster to request new spells, provided they know the spell exists. Below is something I've whipped up on the spot, it probably won't be balanced, but its a better starting point I think.
'You can now use your Exalted Spellbook to call upon the vast knowledge of the Order of Scribes. At the end of each long rest, you write a message to the Order of Scribes, calling upon them for knowledge. You can choose one of the following options: You gain proficiency and expertise in three skills of your choice, this lasts until your next long rest. You cast Legend Lore without the need for material components, your Spellbook suddenly fills with written notes and teachings from far and wide, educating you on the subject you asked for. Or you can choose one spell of 5th level or lower from the wizard spell list that you do not have in your Spellbook, this spell appears in your Spellbook as a member shares their knowledge with you. This spell can only be cast once at its base level, and cannot be copied into your Spellbook from this feature.'
One with the Word is again a weird one for me, the teleportation seems very out of place, and cheating death by loosing 3d6 levels of spell seems just a little off. I would make One with the Word a state, lasting for one minuet, in which the casters body gets covered in tattoos of the spells inscribed onto them. For the next minuet, their body is their spell casting focus, acting as a +3 arcane focus, and they can cast any spell in their book, regardless of if it is prepared. This only lasts its duration if their spell book is on their person at all times
Again, this is a little something coming off my head, but having a wizard coming from a secret order, I feel they should get some features attributed to the order.
Anyone know how to get wish on your spell list when making a genie warlock? I don’t see it at all. All my spells go to 5th level and the 9th level mystic arcanum doesn’t have Wish there either
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/unearthed-arcana/67520-ua-may-2020-subclasses-revisited?comment=26
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Thank you!
Happy to help
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So, my current overall view of the subclasses:
The Phantom Rogue is cool, but has some small parts that could use fixes or changes.
The Genie Warlock is good, but the proficiency bonus based abilities are something to keep an eye on.
The Order of Scribes Wizard is a mess. Overall, most of the abilities need to change or just become overall wizard abilities. The damage-swapping is broken, the AI spellbook is strange, and the capstone ability is so bad that you hope you never have to use it.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Pretty much 100% agree.
Ditto
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It's only been out for about a week, so it'll be awhile until the next UA comes out or till we can do the survey. I would recommend to anyone who doesn't know about it that we have a thread dedicated to predicting upcoming Unearthed Arcana. Some of the predictions have even been right before.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/unearthed-arcana/52554-what-will-the-next-ua-contain?page=51
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I myself really like the Wizard, and I never really diged the Artificer version and I am hoping for more Artificer subclasses coming hopefully but I am very happy with Armorer.
(I’m currently running a lvl 10 Bladesinger though ToA, and in terms of broken Wizard subclasses, Bladesinger has to be far out there. Damage swapping doesn’t come close)
For all that I love playing wizards, I do feel Scribe should have remained an Artificer subclass. But if we’re going with The Wizards of Shorthand as a subclass, this one’s not too bad as a first pass. Needs more work, but there’s been worse.
Wizardly Quill: pretty much fluff, with her bonus of reduced transcription costs. Using your fancy quill should probably grant proficiency for calligraphy tool checks. One thing that comes to mind here is that this class will be really reliant on a GM who hands out varied spellbooks and similar resources frequently. If you’re not finding lots of spells to add, or you’re not finding the ‘right’ spells, you’re going to be hamstrung as a scribe (and in both the campaigns I’ve run and played in, spells weren’t a common loot option before circa level 8. I’ve four copies of Detect Magic in the five spellbooks I’ve found).
Awakened Spellbook: Fluffwise, I love the idea of this. Spellbooks should have been a spellcasting focus anyway (granted, one that comes with the risk of your book being fireballed while you’re skim-reading), a book that’s been subject to so much magic that it’s become a bit alive itself is very Unseen University, and a free ritual isn’t an unreasonable boon from Arcane Siri. But in-game, the rest of this bumps up against the nature of prepared spells for me. If my spellbook is alive and reactive, so that it can change what’s on the page and I can cast a psychic meteor storm or acidic mind spike, why do I have to prepare anyway? Can’t it just present me with whatever spell I need? Or if I have bookmarked the spells I need today, reminded myself of the difference in the incantations between thunder and lightning, and and got the awakened spellbook to focus on those spells, why’s it going dumpster-diving through Blade Ward, Skywrite, Floating Disc and Jump, when what I need right this second is the rune for radiant damage, since that seemed more effective last round?
So I would change the damage swapping to prepared spells, and possibly also with a int mod limit on the number of times a day - hot swapping damage mid-incantation is not an easy trick, or everyone would be doing it, and Wizardkind would have codified those thunderous ice knives and psychic tidal waves into new spells that could be used everyone.
Master Scrivener: A free ring of minor spell storing, in addition to the free ritual slot from earlier is quite generous, but functionally adds up to an additional arcane recovery. Nice to have.
Manifest Mind: Spectral familiar. Very Artificery, and not notably rejigged for the move from Artificer to Wizard subclass. Doesn’t actually fit too well with the class theme - ie, me and my magic writing skills. Are there many sentient items that can project themselves in this way, because a book manifesting a spectral variant of itself doesn’t seem to flow well. In the same way that many of the recent UAs have focused on adding pets/minions to your character, this starts to shift focus away from the character themselves to their coterie. Also, I’m going to need a statblock for my sentient book, much as I do for the fighter’s sentient sword
One with the Mind: Again, am I the wizard, or is it my spellbook that’s the power here? The functionality is nice - almost a limited phylactery, and I don’t mind the cost of the resurrection - even with stingy spell finds, there’ll still be some I don’t need any more in my spellbook, and I’ll cheerfully sacrifice my ability to ever cast Mordenkainen’s Sword before I let the Druid practice Reincarnation on me.