New subclass I'm working on, still in progress and just needed any general feedback is possible.
Inspirations and points of reference are:
Arcana and Knowledge Cleric
Inquisitor Class from Pathfinder
Occultists Class from Pathfinder
Blood Hunter
Originally I wanted a class that was the Arcana domain and Knowledge domains put together but I was finding that there was a fun flavor in class that was all about gathering knowledge, marking their prey, and uncovering magical secrets- and began to land in the most Occultist and Blood Hunter realm of things, but with more spellcasting!
It's a wonderful, amazing, unique and special HB, that I want to make a new character so I could use it immediately.
Domain spells: there is a really heavy emphasis on utility here, are you sure that's what you want? Most domain spell lists have more diversity in spell class.
Esoteric Devotion & Uncanny Eyes : Why the emphasis on ranged weapons? Seems a bit out of place for a witch-like class. Maybe instead something more "hex/curse-y" like:
"When you are targeted by an attack you can use your reaction to curse the target. They must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or become poisoned until the end of your next turn."
Channel Divinity:
- There is a discrepancy between it originally being a BA but moving it is an Action. - Anything that does damage for each of your ally's attacks is extremely swingy and difficult to make balanced. You could easily have only 4 attacks by allies per round, or 20 depending on the party composition and situation. I'd strongly urge you to make this 1/round and increasing the damage. - Clerics aren't usually making a lot of attack rolls, so it seems really odd to have an extra damage die on your next attack roll as an ability here. Consider swapping this for somekind of retributive Reaction similar to what the Redemption paladin gets.
Tapping the Unknown - It is very unclear how this is supposed to work in combat, do you make a melee attack roll to try and touch them what ability score would you use for that attack? What type of action would this be an Action, a BA? - Why not split this in two, one for creatures and one for objects? It's quite confusing as a single ability.
Really cool! I second everything that Agilemind said, but also add that I believe you meant to say "reenter" when you said "renter" and "miracles" in Major Esoterica: Mircales.
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I really like the ideas behind this domain, but I feel like it may be too powerful overall. I think it's really Witching Brand and Essence Tap that may be too strong, as they each combine the effects of multiple spells together into very strong features:
Witching Brand
The d4 extra damage may not sound like much, but if it's for every ally's attacks it will add up fast, plus it's the least resisted damage type, and will stack with things like crusader's mantle. If a well prepared party can put out 7-8 attacks in a round that's around 20 damage which is going to just destroy pretty much anything you face.
I'd suggest either limiting that damage to once per turn initially, or maybe change the effect to something like re-roll 1's for damage (increasing the average rather than the maximum)?
My gut feeling is also that it has too many effects; personally I'd drop the last two (advantage vs. WIS saves and extra damage if an ally goes down) to make it a purely informational/offensive feature. Either that, or it should always grant knowledge of the type, and once you know that you then choose one effect to also apply from more damage, advantage of Wisdom saves etc., so you're using the information you gain to tailor the effect you need? e.g- if it's Fey then advantage on Wisdom may be far more important than extra damage.
Lastly, not sure if it really needs the ability to transfer it, but if you keep that in, it seems strange for a bonus action ability to require an action to transfer it, is that an oversight?
Essence Tap
This is another feature combining a bunch of effects; at a glance it's giving unlimited concentration-free detect magic (so even better than the Eldritch Sight Warlock invocation), plus short range detect thoughts and legend lore, and it looks like it also gives the Thief's 13th-level class feature (attune to anything). I know it's only once per long rest but that feels like a lot.
Personally I'd just grant access to detect magic, detect thoughts and (later) legend lore as Cleric spells with one free use each per long rest? Legend lore might even just make sense as a spell list entry? Since detect magic is a ritual this means you can still cast it for free in less time sensitive situations.
This would require some tweaking of major esoterica, but I think you could just make the Miracles feature once per long rest (no need to tie to essence tap?), Nature could augment legend lore so when you use it for a natural landscape the casting time is 1 action and the information is always clear (rather than "figurative"), and lastly Crossroads should be tied to the Witching Brand to add knowledge of resistances/immunities/vulnerabilities, IMO it doesn't need to also ignore an immunity (as once you know them, you know what you and your allies need to avoid).
To be clear, overall I really like the ideas behind this, I'm just concerned these two features may be too strong and a bit complicated as-is. Also balance is very difficult to get right so don't just take my feedback alone, these are just my first thoughts.
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I agree with Haravikk. It definitely feels like the subclass is trying to do too much at the same time. When I try to imagine what a character with this subclass would "do" in different situations and in what situations I would use each of these abilities it gets pretty muddled pretty fast. As each feature seems to be trying to be used in multiple different ways in different situations.
e.g. In combat, does this character cast spells to buff / debuff? Does it use a weapon and make attacks to kill things? Does it act strategically to control the flow of battle? Does it blast enemies with damage dealing spells? Does it stand in the front and take hits? - I can only answer for certain the last one as a no, all the rest seems to be "uh maybe?"
e.g. Out of combat, does this character use spells to learn information? Do they use skills? Or do they just know stuff? - the answer seems to be yes to all three. Why do they the Essence Tap (object) if they already have access to Legend Lore, Scrying, Divination, Augury and expertise in Arcana?
I like this a lot, much improved from the original. Just a couple things:
It is not clear how the ward works for Fell Haven. If a warded creature is hit, is the damage subtracted from the ward first? If so, consider having it grant temporary hit points instead. This reminds me of Armor of Agathys, maybe structure it like that spell.
For Witching Brand, I know you toned down the damage due to feedback, but for me 1d4 per round is almost not worth the effort it takes to keep track of it. Perhaps you could flip it to deal the damage when the enemy attacks? This would cap it at a reasonable frequency, be a little more effective on BBEG-type foes, and also possibly provide soft control by encouraging actions other than attacking. You could probably get away with 1d6 each time it attacks.
Alternatively if you took the damage out, this could be a pretty interesting feature to use outside of combat. Doesn't feel so much like a brand at that point, but a nice information-gathering support ability.
I agree with scatterbrained, it's much better but swung too far the other way.
1. Fell Haven should either be more explicit how the ward works - like Abjuration Wizard's ward - or it should be temporary hit points like Armour of Agathys.
2. Witching Brand - this is now in conflict in its uses, since it buffs allies you might want to use it out of combat e.g. when investigating a crime scene, but it also hurt the target making which is not so good if you want to use it on yourself for the buff bonuses. Whereas in the offensive case it is fairly weak with the low damage, though it is movable so maybe the damage is appropriate when we consider having it active for all rounds of a combat.
I'm not sure what feel your trying to go for with this ability. You could do something like:
Brand (Offensive) Use a BA to mark a creature, whenever the target creature makes an attack [ you could also make this when they are hit by an attack ] you can use your reaction [this limits it to 1/round] to cause the brand to burn dealing 1d6 necrotic or radiant damage (you choose when you use this feature) Damage increases to 2d6 at 11th level, and 3d6 at 17th level). As a bonus action you can end your brand, and the creature has disadvantage on the next Wisdom saving throw it makes before the end of your next turn.
Brand (Debuff/Knowledge) Use a BA to mark a creature, the target's AC is reduced by 2 and you learn the creature's type and any damage resistances / immunities / vulnerabilities it has. When you initiate a brand choose one damage resistance the creature has, while it remains branded, it is no longer resistant to that damage type. The brand can be moved as a bonus action on your turn...
Brand (Support) Use a BA to mark a creature, as long as the creature is within 1000 ft of you, you know it's direction and distance from you. In addition, you have advantage on Intelligence checks to learn information about it, and Charisma checks to influence its behaviour.
It's a great subclass but my only problem with it is when you switch the target of the channel divinity it is an action and I think it should be a bonus action
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Inspirations and points of reference are:
Originally I wanted a class that was the Arcana domain and Knowledge domains put together but I was finding that there was a fun flavor in class that was all about gathering knowledge, marking their prey, and uncovering magical secrets- and began to land in the most Occultist and Blood Hunter realm of things, but with more spellcasting!
It's a wonderful, amazing, unique and special HB, that I want to make a new character so I could use it immediately.
Domain spells: there is a really heavy emphasis on utility here, are you sure that's what you want? Most domain spell lists have more diversity in spell class.
Esoteric Devotion & Uncanny Eyes : Why the emphasis on ranged weapons? Seems a bit out of place for a witch-like class. Maybe instead something more "hex/curse-y" like:
"When you are targeted by an attack you can use your reaction to curse the target. They must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or become poisoned until the end of your next turn."
Channel Divinity:
- There is a discrepancy between it originally being a BA but moving it is an Action.
- Anything that does damage for each of your ally's attacks is extremely swingy and difficult to make balanced. You could easily have only 4 attacks by allies per round, or 20 depending on the party composition and situation. I'd strongly urge you to make this 1/round and increasing the damage.
- Clerics aren't usually making a lot of attack rolls, so it seems really odd to have an extra damage die on your next attack roll as an ability here. Consider swapping this for somekind of retributive Reaction similar to what the Redemption paladin gets.
Tapping the Unknown
- It is very unclear how this is supposed to work in combat, do you make a melee attack roll to try and touch them what ability score would you use for that attack? What type of action would this be an Action, a BA?
- Why not split this in two, one for creatures and one for objects? It's quite confusing as a single ability.
Really cool! I second everything that Agilemind said, but also add that I believe you meant to say "reenter" when you said "renter" and "miracles" in Major Esoterica: Mircales.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
I really like the ideas behind this domain, but I feel like it may be too powerful overall. I think it's really Witching Brand and Essence Tap that may be too strong, as they each combine the effects of multiple spells together into very strong features:
Witching Brand
The d4 extra damage may not sound like much, but if it's for every ally's attacks it will add up fast, plus it's the least resisted damage type, and will stack with things like crusader's mantle. If a well prepared party can put out 7-8 attacks in a round that's around 20 damage which is going to just destroy pretty much anything you face.
I'd suggest either limiting that damage to once per turn initially, or maybe change the effect to something like re-roll 1's for damage (increasing the average rather than the maximum)?
My gut feeling is also that it has too many effects; personally I'd drop the last two (advantage vs. WIS saves and extra damage if an ally goes down) to make it a purely informational/offensive feature. Either that, or it should always grant knowledge of the type, and once you know that you then choose one effect to also apply from more damage, advantage of Wisdom saves etc., so you're using the information you gain to tailor the effect you need? e.g- if it's Fey then advantage on Wisdom may be far more important than extra damage.
Lastly, not sure if it really needs the ability to transfer it, but if you keep that in, it seems strange for a bonus action ability to require an action to transfer it, is that an oversight?
Essence Tap
This is another feature combining a bunch of effects; at a glance it's giving unlimited concentration-free detect magic (so even better than the Eldritch Sight Warlock invocation), plus short range detect thoughts and legend lore, and it looks like it also gives the Thief's 13th-level class feature (attune to anything). I know it's only once per long rest but that feels like a lot.
Personally I'd just grant access to detect magic, detect thoughts and (later) legend lore as Cleric spells with one free use each per long rest? Legend lore might even just make sense as a spell list entry? Since detect magic is a ritual this means you can still cast it for free in less time sensitive situations.
This would require some tweaking of major esoterica, but I think you could just make the Miracles feature once per long rest (no need to tie to essence tap?), Nature could augment legend lore so when you use it for a natural landscape the casting time is 1 action and the information is always clear (rather than "figurative"), and lastly Crossroads should be tied to the Witching Brand to add knowledge of resistances/immunities/vulnerabilities, IMO it doesn't need to also ignore an immunity (as once you know them, you know what you and your allies need to avoid).
To be clear, overall I really like the ideas behind this, I'm just concerned these two features may be too strong and a bit complicated as-is. Also balance is very difficult to get right so don't just take my feedback alone, these are just my first thoughts.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
I agree with Haravikk. It definitely feels like the subclass is trying to do too much at the same time. When I try to imagine what a character with this subclass would "do" in different situations and in what situations I would use each of these abilities it gets pretty muddled pretty fast. As each feature seems to be trying to be used in multiple different ways in different situations.
e.g. In combat, does this character cast spells to buff / debuff? Does it use a weapon and make attacks to kill things? Does it act strategically to control the flow of battle? Does it blast enemies with damage dealing spells? Does it stand in the front and take hits? - I can only answer for certain the last one as a no, all the rest seems to be "uh maybe?"
e.g. Out of combat, does this character use spells to learn information? Do they use skills? Or do they just know stuff? - the answer seems to be yes to all three. Why do they the Essence Tap (object) if they already have access to Legend Lore, Scrying, Divination, Augury and expertise in Arcana?
Thank you all for the feedback, made some changes to the class. Still a work in progress but made some big alterations.
I like this a lot, much improved from the original. Just a couple things:
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I agree with scatterbrained, it's much better but swung too far the other way.
1. Fell Haven should either be more explicit how the ward works - like Abjuration Wizard's ward - or it should be temporary hit points like Armour of Agathys.
2. Witching Brand - this is now in conflict in its uses, since it buffs allies you might want to use it out of combat e.g. when investigating a crime scene, but it also hurt the target making which is not so good if you want to use it on yourself for the buff bonuses. Whereas in the offensive case it is fairly weak with the low damage, though it is movable so maybe the damage is appropriate when we consider having it active for all rounds of a combat.
I'm not sure what feel your trying to go for with this ability. You could do something like:
Brand (Offensive) Use a BA to mark a creature, whenever the target creature makes an attack [ you could also make this when they are hit by an attack ] you can use your reaction [this limits it to 1/round] to cause the brand to burn dealing 1d6 necrotic or radiant damage (you choose when you use this feature) Damage increases to 2d6 at 11th level, and 3d6 at 17th level). As a bonus action you can end your brand, and the creature has disadvantage on the next Wisdom saving throw it makes before the end of your next turn.
Brand (Debuff/Knowledge) Use a BA to mark a creature, the target's AC is reduced by 2 and you learn the creature's type and any damage resistances / immunities / vulnerabilities it has. When you initiate a brand choose one damage resistance the creature has, while it remains branded, it is no longer resistant to that damage type. The brand can be moved as a bonus action on your turn...
Brand (Support) Use a BA to mark a creature, as long as the creature is within 1000 ft of you, you know it's direction and distance from you. In addition, you have advantage on Intelligence checks to learn information about it, and Charisma checks to influence its behaviour.
It's a great subclass but my only problem with it is when you switch the target of the channel divinity it is an action and I think it should be a bonus action