So that new UA with Warlock allows the damage type to be altered. (they do for spells and weapons it looks like.) Do people like this ability? Do they think its bad or problematic? I really like the idea of the concept. But I am biasedI really kind of want Alchemical Savant for the Alchemist Artificer.
One of the issues with Alchemical Savant is its so limited in damage types-but the class list really doesn't have the cantrips to support them. So basically it ends up being firebolt, acid splash, bonfire as the main choices. But they're kindi of forced to be cantrip based combat
If they could do that, it means they could use Shocking Grasp, Ray of Frost, Frostbite, Thornwhip. The Cantrips that actually have support or debuff portions. WHich arguablly is one of the class concepts for Alchemists. Its also just awsome sounding flavor, and it would fit as a 'progression' with their Elixir experiments.Ray of Frost, changed to necrotic or poison, to represent a Tanglefoot bag-due to it reducing speeds. Shocking Grasp now becames a poison touch. Poison Spray becomes you splashing them with Alchemist fire vial
Overall, it would increase their options in combat, allow them to feel buff/debuffy, it would also let them pick up more support cantrips as they could focus in one cantrip and change the damage accordingly. Plus, with so many different ways to fluff and switch the damage, the RP ability would really help with the potential boringness of cantrip spam for some folks.
So, do people like the idea behind that class ability in the UA? if they do, would they want it for other subclasses (either retcon or the future).
I personally have mixed feelings about it. I feel like it should either be limited to spell damage only instead of all damage, or give a simple 1d4 of necrotic damage to all attacks maybe make it so as you level you get additional d4's. but otherwise I like it.
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If I can't say something nice, I try to not say anything at all. So if I suddenly stop participating in a topic that's probably why.
I've always been leery of abilities that let the character change the damage type of spells ever since they tried out that Lore Master Wizard UA, but in this case I don't think it'll be a problem. There's plenty of stuff that's resistant and/or immune to Necrotic damage, so it's not an automatic bypass. Besides, that's what Eldritch Blast is for :) The only slight annoyance is that the creature that's given me fits as a Warlock, the Helmed Horror, is immune to both Force AND Necrotic damage, so this ability is no help against them. I also like that it affects both weapon and spell attacks, so it's useful for both Tome/Chain and Blade Warlocks.
The ability to change damage types, like in the Lore Master and School of the Scholar, needs to be limited to a nymber of times per Long Rest equal to either your Proficiency Modifier or you casting ability score modifier. I both those cases, I limitied it too ability score modifier. I love the idea, yt unlimited was way too powerful ino.
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Watch your back, conserve your ammo, and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
I was just reading a review of this UA on another site and it pointed out something which could make this ability truly broken. If you combine this ability with Form Of Dread, you roll an additional die when you're rolling for necrotic damage. It lists no per-turn limit, so if you have Form Of Dread up each Eldritch Blast beam could do 2d10 necrotic(plus Agonizing Blast, Hex etc). If you're fighting creatures that don't resist necrotic damage, that's gonna get CRAZY.
Warlock + crit fishing Fighter two handded weapon o doom is a funny build for a Grim Reaper style.
for classes like Wizards, sorc etc. I can really see needing to limit it. But for Warlocks (and also alchemist since i mentioned them) have such limited slot access that I dont' think it gets too messy. (and for warlocks they have force damage on tap). I think it could be fine if they restricted to Warlock Spells (or alchemist spells in that case)
I think the double dice is a bit problematic if we're mentioning that. Might be better to add static d amage of some sort. So it doesn't interact with crits.
I think damage changing depends on how you go about doing it. A blanket from anything to anything is bad. Everyone's going to just change everything to force and be done with it. Being able to change to commonly resisted types of damage is not a problem at all. Being able to change to something like necrotic...eh, I don't think it's a huge problem.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
For spells we mostly have necrotic damage, changing our Eldritch Blast to necrotic is a downgrade most of the time. It's interesting for Bladelocks, but we should not forget that most of your bonus damage is already necrotic from Hex or Lifedrinker. So we're just investing heavier into necrotic damage.
At the end of the day, necrotic damage is.. not something I'm worried about. At best it's able to bypass resistances (are there even monsters vulnerable to necrotic damage?), at worst you're just switching your damage type right into resistances.
I was just reading a review of this UA on another site and it pointed out something which could make this ability truly broken. If you combine this ability with Form Of Dread, you roll an additional die when you're rolling for necrotic damage. It lists no per-turn limit, so if you have Form Of Dread up each Eldritch Blast beam could do 2d10 necrotic(plus Agonizing Blast, Hex etc). If you're fighting creatures that don't resist necrotic damage, that's gonna get CRAZY.
And with a Sorcerer dip and a new UA feat you could quicken EB and do it twice/turn....
Only slightly offtopic I noticed on another forum I browse that some people are having a meltdown over the ability and for some reason assuming hex die would also increase. I guess it is just the whole necrotic damage type and no reading the feature closely.
Only slightly offtopic I noticed on another forum I browse that some people are having a meltdown over the ability and for some reason assuming hex die would also increase. I guess it is just the whole necrotic damage type and no reading the feature closely.
Pretty sure Hex wouldn't double, since it also counts as "extra" damage added onto an attack, it's not a separate attack.
Howdy.
So that new UA with Warlock allows the damage type to be altered. (they do for spells and weapons it looks like.) Do people like this ability? Do they think its bad or problematic? I really like the idea of the concept. But I am biasedI really kind of want Alchemical Savant for the Alchemist Artificer.
One of the issues with Alchemical Savant is its so limited in damage types-but the class list really doesn't have the cantrips to support them. So basically it ends up being firebolt, acid splash, bonfire as the main choices. But they're kindi of forced to be cantrip based combat
If they could do that, it means they could use Shocking Grasp, Ray of Frost, Frostbite, Thornwhip. The Cantrips that actually have support or debuff portions. WHich arguablly is one of the class concepts for Alchemists. Its also just awsome sounding flavor, and it would fit as a 'progression' with their Elixir experiments.Ray of Frost, changed to necrotic or poison, to represent a Tanglefoot bag-due to it reducing speeds. Shocking Grasp now becames a poison touch. Poison Spray becomes you splashing them with Alchemist fire vial
Overall, it would increase their options in combat, allow them to feel buff/debuffy, it would also let them pick up more support cantrips as they could focus in one cantrip and change the damage accordingly. Plus, with so many different ways to fluff and switch the damage, the RP ability would really help with the potential boringness of cantrip spam for some folks.
So, do people like the idea behind that class ability in the UA? if they do, would they want it for other subclasses (either retcon or the future).
I personally have mixed feelings about it. I feel like it should either be limited to spell damage only instead of all damage, or give a simple 1d4 of necrotic damage to all attacks maybe make it so as you level you get additional d4's. but otherwise I like it.
If I can't say something nice, I try to not say anything at all. So if I suddenly stop participating in a topic that's probably why.
I've always been leery of abilities that let the character change the damage type of spells ever since they tried out that Lore Master Wizard UA, but in this case I don't think it'll be a problem. There's plenty of stuff that's resistant and/or immune to Necrotic damage, so it's not an automatic bypass. Besides, that's what Eldritch Blast is for :) The only slight annoyance is that the creature that's given me fits as a Warlock, the Helmed Horror, is immune to both Force AND Necrotic damage, so this ability is no help against them. I also like that it affects both weapon and spell attacks, so it's useful for both Tome/Chain and Blade Warlocks.
The ability to change damage types, like in the Lore Master and School of the Scholar, needs to be limited to a nymber of times per Long Rest equal to either your Proficiency Modifier or you casting ability score modifier. I both those cases, I limitied it too ability score modifier. I love the idea, yt unlimited was way too powerful ino.
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
I was just reading a review of this UA on another site and it pointed out something which could make this ability truly broken. If you combine this ability with Form Of Dread, you roll an additional die when you're rolling for necrotic damage. It lists no per-turn limit, so if you have Form Of Dread up each Eldritch Blast beam could do 2d10 necrotic(plus Agonizing Blast, Hex etc). If you're fighting creatures that don't resist necrotic damage, that's gonna get CRAZY.
Also on crits that gets messy yep.
Warlock + crit fishing Fighter two handded weapon o doom is a funny build for a Grim Reaper style.
for classes like Wizards, sorc etc. I can really see needing to limit it. But for Warlocks (and also alchemist since i mentioned them) have such limited slot access that I dont' think it gets too messy. (and for warlocks they have force damage on tap). I think it could be fine if they restricted to Warlock Spells (or alchemist spells in that case)
I think the double dice is a bit problematic if we're mentioning that. Might be better to add static d amage of some sort. So it doesn't interact with crits.
Regarding the double damage, for spells have it apply once per spell.
And while changing damage types is often strong on spells, this is the Warlock here. You can already do the best damage type at will.
I think damage changing depends on how you go about doing it. A blanket from anything to anything is bad. Everyone's going to just change everything to force and be done with it. Being able to change to commonly resisted types of damage is not a problem at all. Being able to change to something like necrotic...eh, I don't think it's a huge problem.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
For spells we mostly have necrotic damage, changing our Eldritch Blast to necrotic is a downgrade most of the time.
It's interesting for Bladelocks, but we should not forget that most of your bonus damage is already necrotic from Hex or Lifedrinker. So we're just investing heavier into necrotic damage.
At the end of the day, necrotic damage is.. not something I'm worried about. At best it's able to bypass resistances (are there even monsters vulnerable to necrotic damage?), at worst you're just switching your damage type right into resistances.
And with a Sorcerer dip and a new UA feat you could quicken EB and do it twice/turn....
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Only slightly offtopic I noticed on another forum I browse that some people are having a meltdown over the ability and for some reason assuming hex die would also increase. I guess it is just the whole necrotic damage type and no reading the feature closely.
Pretty sure Hex wouldn't double, since it also counts as "extra" damage added onto an attack, it's not a separate attack.
That is how I hope most are reading it, but I can see misinterpretation of the feature could cause overly negative review once the survey is out.