A really cool thing was prestige classes. I think they were from 3.5e, or any of the older editions, which I've played none of. I still really think it was a cool idea, and even think if a DM didn't allow normal multiclassing, they might like how prestige classes worked.
A really cool thing was prestige classes. I think they were from 3.5e, or any of the older editions, which I've played none of. I still really think it was a cool idea, and even think if a DM didn't allow normal multiclassing, they might like how prestige classes worked.
I like the idea, but didn't care for the execution in the 5e UA.
Spellcaster prestige classes need to not interrupt spellcasting progression. Not just slot level, but allow learning higher level spells too (even if it is from a new list).
Martial prestige classes don't have as much to worry about in that regard.
I also think they will work better if the level cap is raised. Even to just 30.
I sort of wish they had come up with official versions of the other three elemental themed Sorcerors (Phoenix, Sea and Stone). I also thought that Theurgy Wizard had a cool idea behind it, but I can understand why a legal version of that came out.
I liked the idea behind the Giant Soul Sorceror, I just feel like it needed a wee bit o the tweaking to make it less reliant on desiring strong physical stats. It almost felt like it was meant to be dipped into paladin or not played (I still liked a character I made with it Hulkulkan the Lizardfolk Hill Giant, hurray enlarge/reduce).
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Recently, I've been pouring over the "Way of Tranquility" monk subclass.
I really dig it.
It isn't perfect...a certain feature is somewhat bland and unwieldy...
But here's what I liked:
Path of Tranquility: You get to use the "Sanctuary" spell, with no material cost, and renew it every minute.
Talk about value!
It really ties into the theme of the subclass, and for a monk who can use their ki to "Dodge", you basically become incredibly difficult to hit. I picture it as a monk who channels the ultimate defense...turning away strikes with open palms, or merely stepping aside. Watch as the violent orc fumes as he cannot land a hit on this unarmored, peasant warrior. He might even chuck a spear...at which point the monk "Deflects Missiles" ; )
Healing Hands: This is the monk equivalent to a paladins "Lay on Hands", and it really sells this subclass as the support monk. The fact that you can use "Flurry of Blows" and "Healing Hands" at the same time means that you are the perfect gentle warrior...you punish violence by balancing it with healing.
Emmisary of Peace: It's fine...advantage on Persuasion or Charisma checks is helpful, even if it is on checks only specifically tied to keeping peace, giving mercy, etc...proficiency on Persuasion or Performance is a nice boon.
I'd take it further to say that maybe you could add your Wisdom modifier to a single Persuasion check once per long rest, for those crucial moments in social games.
Douse the Flames of War:
Side note...I like how this seems like the polar opposite of the Conquest Paladin's tenant, "Douse the Flames of Hope".
...but this skill is clunky and very limited for a higher-level abiity. You can possibly remove an enemy from combat by preventing them from doing anything hostile...
...but only if they have all their HP..****y if they fail the save..****y if they aren't attacked...and only of you don't attack their allies with them in sight.
...that's a lot of conditions that will seldom be met. I'd have preferred an ability where perhaps the monk can use their Reaction to deflect melee attacks back at their opponent...similar to "Deflect Missiles".
Anger of a Gentle Soul:
...and this just brings my attention right back!
As a Reaction to seeing an ally reduced to 0 HP by an enemy, you gain a bonus to your damage rolls against that enemy equal to your monk level...which is 17 at this point.
And ya get this back on a short rest.
This is a potent ability that allows the monk to stack some decent damage on that one bad guy...and it is SO appropriate for roleplaying. Extra points if it's the main villain of your campaign, or your fallen ally is a close friend.
It is also susceptible to abuse, because if you are somehow playing, say, a goblin or an aasimar, the racial abilities that give bonuses to damage can make your so-called peace-lover quite the brawler...particularly an aasimar who gets damage equal to their level for a whole minute.
...plus, those are some good races for this subclass...a goblin who finds inner peace to repress their cruel and violent tendencies...
...a protector aasimar who literally embodies peace...or a fallen aasimar who temporarily releases the violence and anger that made them "fall" (I picture Clint Eastwood in "The Unforgiven")
...anyway, I like this subclass.
If you want to roleplay as Jesus or Obi-Wan Kenobi, this is a pretty nice subclass.
It pains me pretty much any time a UA doesn't get an official release. But if I had to choose:
The Elemental Sorcerer Origins. It baffles me that these didn't make it in, they were so flavorful and, having had many players play them in my campaign, didn't seem unbalanced in the slightest.
Weapon Feats. A lot of people complained about it pigeon holing you into using one weapon... but almost every campaign I've been in most players prefer to stick to a specific weapon type anyway. These really should come back.
Primeval Guardian. I agree that this was a weird one to give to Rangers... but a Druid that could use their wild shape to transform into a tree tank? Yes please.
Anything made on Mike Mearls Happy Fun Hour. I never got why they didn't put these through external testing. The Acrobat especially.
I really loved d20 Modern, I got all the books, even the Green Ronin ones. Fans of it really got the short end of the stick when the line died without even an announcement. So seeing it some love in 2 articles was nice, but man would I just give anything to see more done with it.
Oath of Treachery paladin, it was cool, but never made its way into Xanathar's, which is a real shame.
How do you swear an oath to being treacherous? Either you betray the party just as is expected of you or you betray your oath by being loyal, which is also loyal to the oath. It makes as much sense as "this sentence is false." It is a paradox.
I'm sure the features could have just moved to a different name.
No, the Oath of Treachery was a kind of sneaky paladin, almost like a rogue. It had spells like expeditious retreat, mirror image, and passwall. I want a paladin that is more chaotic, still adheres to an oath, but in a chaotic way, or to tenets to maintain chaos, something like that.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
No, the Oath of Treachery was a kind of sneaky paladin, almost like a rogue. It had spells like expeditious retreat, mirror image, and passwall. I want a paladin that is more chaotic, still adheres to an oath, but in a chaotic way, or to tenets to maintain chaos, something like that.
No, the Oath of Treachery was a kind of sneaky paladin, almost like a rogue. It had spells like expeditious retreat, mirror image, and passwall. I want a paladin that is more chaotic, still adheres to an oath, but in a chaotic way, or to tenets to maintain chaos, something like that.
Like a Chaos Space Marine from WH40k?
Never played any table top RPG besides D&D 5e, but sure?
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Tieflings ability to get wings via a racial feat instead of having to be one specific race of Tiefling.
The Tiefling feat that let them just grow spikes all over their body.
I forgot about the UA feats. I don't remember if the dragonborn feats were apart of those, but yea they needed them. Dragonborn are the most useless race, their breath attack doesn't even help. Most unique thing besides that is resistance to a damage type they kinda choose.
More feats related to skills and weapons. Some of the feats related to tools were just awesome in their own right that would've given characters more flavour in downtime activities.
The weapon feats certainly made fighter-based characters much more awesome rather than "I roll to hit and do damage." They had add-on effects such as using a help action with an axe to knock away a foe's shield (effectively giving +2 to the attack) and providing advantage for a party member. Even better, with the spear the damage goes from a d6>d8 and you can 'brace' for a charge by an enemy to inflict damage when they enter your rage if they moved 20 feet.
Raven Queen warlock patron. I've been playing one in a Curse of Strahd campaign, and we're finally nearing the end after 1.5 years of playing. Hands down the coolest 5th edition character I've played.
Yes the patron was specific where all the others are not, but the flavor of the abilities are so damn good.
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Blatantly stealing this from a Reddit thread.
Personally, UAs I wish got developed; SKill Feats, Weapons Feats, anything Warlock related.
Skill feats and race feats (I think there were more race feats).
A really cool thing was prestige classes. I think they were from 3.5e, or any of the older editions, which I've played none of. I still really think it was a cool idea, and even think if a DM didn't allow normal multiclassing, they might like how prestige classes worked.
Also known as CrafterB and DankMemer.
Here, have some homebrew classes! Subclasses to? Why not races. Feats, feats as well. I have a lot of magic items. Lastly I got monsters, fun, fun times.
I like the idea, but didn't care for the execution in the 5e UA.
Spellcaster prestige classes need to not interrupt spellcasting progression. Not just slot level, but allow learning higher level spells too (even if it is from a new list).
Martial prestige classes don't have as much to worry about in that regard.
I also think they will work better if the level cap is raised. Even to just 30.
Heck, even to 25.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I sort of wish they had come up with official versions of the other three elemental themed Sorcerors (Phoenix, Sea and Stone). I also thought that Theurgy Wizard had a cool idea behind it, but I can understand why a legal version of that came out.
Hombrew: Way of Wresting, Circle of Sacrifice
I liked the idea behind the Giant Soul Sorceror, I just feel like it needed a wee bit o the tweaking to make it less reliant on desiring strong physical stats. It almost felt like it was meant to be dipped into paladin or not played (I still liked a character I made with it Hulkulkan the Lizardfolk Hill Giant, hurray enlarge/reduce).
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Recently, I've been pouring over the "Way of Tranquility" monk subclass.
I really dig it.
It isn't perfect...a certain feature is somewhat bland and unwieldy...
But here's what I liked:
Path of Tranquility: You get to use the "Sanctuary" spell, with no material cost, and renew it every minute.
Talk about value!
It really ties into the theme of the subclass, and for a monk who can use their ki to "Dodge", you basically become incredibly difficult to hit. I picture it as a monk who channels the ultimate defense...turning away strikes with open palms, or merely stepping aside. Watch as the violent orc fumes as he cannot land a hit on this unarmored, peasant warrior. He might even chuck a spear...at which point the monk "Deflects Missiles" ; )
Healing Hands: This is the monk equivalent to a paladins "Lay on Hands", and it really sells this subclass as the support monk. The fact that you can use "Flurry of Blows" and "Healing Hands" at the same time means that you are the perfect gentle warrior...you punish violence by balancing it with healing.
Emmisary of Peace: It's fine...advantage on Persuasion or Charisma checks is helpful, even if it is on checks only specifically tied to keeping peace, giving mercy, etc...proficiency on Persuasion or Performance is a nice boon.
I'd take it further to say that maybe you could add your Wisdom modifier to a single Persuasion check once per long rest, for those crucial moments in social games.
Douse the Flames of War:
Side note...I like how this seems like the polar opposite of the Conquest Paladin's tenant, "Douse the Flames of Hope".
...but this skill is clunky and very limited for a higher-level abiity. You can possibly remove an enemy from combat by preventing them from doing anything hostile...
...but only if they have all their HP..****y if they fail the save..****y if they aren't attacked...and only of you don't attack their allies with them in sight.
...that's a lot of conditions that will seldom be met. I'd have preferred an ability where perhaps the monk can use their Reaction to deflect melee attacks back at their opponent...similar to "Deflect Missiles".
Anger of a Gentle Soul:
...and this just brings my attention right back!
As a Reaction to seeing an ally reduced to 0 HP by an enemy, you gain a bonus to your damage rolls against that enemy equal to your monk level...which is 17 at this point.
And ya get this back on a short rest.
This is a potent ability that allows the monk to stack some decent damage on that one bad guy...and it is SO appropriate for roleplaying. Extra points if it's the main villain of your campaign, or your fallen ally is a close friend.
It is also susceptible to abuse, because if you are somehow playing, say, a goblin or an aasimar, the racial abilities that give bonuses to damage can make your so-called peace-lover quite the brawler...particularly an aasimar who gets damage equal to their level for a whole minute.
...plus, those are some good races for this subclass...a goblin who finds inner peace to repress their cruel and violent tendencies...
...a protector aasimar who literally embodies peace...or a fallen aasimar who temporarily releases the violence and anger that made them "fall" (I picture Clint Eastwood in "The Unforgiven")
...anyway, I like this subclass.
If you want to roleplay as Jesus or Obi-Wan Kenobi, this is a pretty nice subclass.
It pains me pretty much any time a UA doesn't get an official release. But if I had to choose:
The Elemental Sorcerer Origins. It baffles me that these didn't make it in, they were so flavorful and, having had many players play them in my campaign, didn't seem unbalanced in the slightest.
Weapon Feats. A lot of people complained about it pigeon holing you into using one weapon... but almost every campaign I've been in most players prefer to stick to a specific weapon type anyway. These really should come back.
Primeval Guardian. I agree that this was a weird one to give to Rangers... but a Druid that could use their wild shape to transform into a tree tank? Yes please.
Anything made on Mike Mearls Happy Fun Hour. I never got why they didn't put these through external testing. The Acrobat especially.
I really loved d20 Modern, I got all the books, even the Green Ronin ones. Fans of it really got the short end of the stick when the line died without even an announcement. So seeing it some love in 2 articles was nice, but man would I just give anything to see more done with it.
Oath of Treachery paladin, it was cool, but never made its way into Xanathar's, which is a real shame.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
How do you swear an oath to being treacherous? Either you betray the party just as is expected of you or you betray your oath by being loyal, which is also loyal to the oath. It makes as much sense as "this sentence is false." It is a paradox.
I'm sure the features could have just moved to a different name.
No, the Oath of Treachery was a kind of sneaky paladin, almost like a rogue. It had spells like expeditious retreat, mirror image, and passwall. I want a paladin that is more chaotic, still adheres to an oath, but in a chaotic way, or to tenets to maintain chaos, something like that.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Like a Chaos Space Marine from WH40k?
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Aspects of the original UA Artificer, specifically the Alchemists Satchel and the Thunder Cannon.
Brute Fighter, Giant Soul Sorceror.
The Minotaurs being Dragonlance themed.
Tieflings ability to get wings via a racial feat instead of having to be one specific race of Tiefling.
The Tiefling feat that let them just grow spikes all over their body.
Never played any table top RPG besides D&D 5e, but sure?
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I forgot about the UA feats. I don't remember if the dragonborn feats were apart of those, but yea they needed them. Dragonborn are the most useless race, their breath attack doesn't even help. Most unique thing besides that is resistance to a damage type they kinda choose.
Also known as CrafterB and DankMemer.
Here, have some homebrew classes! Subclasses to? Why not races. Feats, feats as well. I have a lot of magic items. Lastly I got monsters, fun, fun times.
Weapons Feats. We need Spear Mastery, but a trident version.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
More feats related to skills and weapons. Some of the feats related to tools were just awesome in their own right that would've given characters more flavour in downtime activities.
The weapon feats certainly made fighter-based characters much more awesome rather than "I roll to hit and do damage." They had add-on effects such as using a help action with an axe to knock away a foe's shield (effectively giving +2 to the attack) and providing advantage for a party member. Even better, with the spear the damage goes from a d6>d8 and you can 'brace' for a charge by an enemy to inflict damage when they enter your rage if they moved 20 feet.
Raven Queen warlock patron. I've been playing one in a Curse of Strahd campaign, and we're finally nearing the end after 1.5 years of playing. Hands down the coolest 5th edition character I've played.
Yes the patron was specific where all the others are not, but the flavor of the abilities are so damn good.