[Let's Read] 5e 3rd Party Class Sourcebooks

[Libertad]

Hello everyone! This is not a Let's Read of a single product so much as a bunch of smaller sourcebooks detailing new classes and subclasses for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. The OP will serve as a WIP Table of Contents linking to later posts. I'm focusing on some of the more well-known classes, as well as ones which don't have detailed reviews around the Internet.

Call to Arms: the Warlord
In the Company of Dragons
The Mist Walker
The Channeler
The Blood Hunter
The Caretaker Warlock​
Defenders of the Wild: the Warden

[Libertad]

Say what you will about 4th Edition, the warlord was one of the cooler concepts it brought to the table as a core class. When 5th Edition came around it was jettisoned like so many other concepts from that era. Barring the Commander’s Strike maneuver of the Battlemaster Fighter, a spell-less martial leader type of character wasn’t really a thing you can do in terms of raw class features of immediate combat use.

Enter Robert J. Schwalb. Already an old hand at writing D&D content for Green Ronin, he decided to self-publish 5th Edition content under Max Press. One of the line’s first products was a spiritual successor to the 4th Edition Warlord. As I am not well-read enough on the original class, I cannot tell you how faithful it is in the transition but will instead judge the class on its own merits.

The Warlord is a spell-less martial class which follows most of what you expect: d10 hit die with proficiency in all armor/weapons/shields, although in terms of skills and saving throws it’s a bit closer to the Paladin in being proficient in Wisdom and Charisma and has more cerebral choices such as History, Medicine, and Persuasion. The class is a bit MAD* in that most features are keyed off of Charisma, but for more physical pursuits a good Constitution and Strength/Dexterity is required to mix things up physically with enemies. The Warlord gets an Extra Attack like other martial classes, but interestingly gets a third one at 11th level.

*Multi-Ability Dependency, when a class needs at least three high ability scores in order to be effective in its ideal role. Counterpoint is SAD: Compare the Monk to the Wizard, the latter of whom is SAD.

Most of the Warlord’s core class features and those of its subclasses do not require an action to activate: most of them use a bonus action, reaction, or trigger automatically in response to specific conditions and attacks. Battlefield Commands are their first and perhaps most important class feature: they can give allies a number of d4s which they can apply in addition to a d20 roll before or after the die is rolled but before success/failure is known. The die’s size increases by one as the Warlord levels up, and can be applied to other things depending on their subclass. The other major feature is Commanding Presence, where characters within 10 to 60 feet (level-based) of the Warlord gain access to special perks.

Beyond this the Warlord has other means of aiding teammates, such as adding the Commanding Presence die (but not spending any actual die) as a bonus to allies’ initiative rolls, foregoing any number of their own attacks to grant allies the ability to make bonus attacks as reactions,* grant temporary hit points and even allow others to spend hit dice to deal without a short rest via inspiring speeches, and being able to use the Help action at range as a bonus action which can also end fright/stabilize a dying creature/grant temporary hit points. The Warlord’s 20th level capstone ability makes all allied creatures add the Warlord’s Charisma modifier to their saving throws within range of Commanding Presence, and allies can roll a Battlefield Command die twice and use either result.

*A callback to the Lazylord build.

Military Stratagems are the Warlord’s archetypes/subclasses, and we can choose from a generous six in this book. The Daring Gambler is all about getting greater risk vs greater reward, and includes such choices as granting allies a pseudo-Power Attack where they take -5 to attack but add 2d6/3d6 bonus damage, or roll a saving throw vs a damaging effect with disadvantage to take no damage instead of full. The Golden General* focuses more on the Warlord themselves doing things to grant boons by leading by example, such as granting advantage on a future attack made against an enemy they successfully hit, or doing a noble sacrifice where they grant advantage on a saving throw to an ally while suffering disadvantage themselves vs an effect hitting both of them. Stratagem of the Hordemaster is about mobility, where the Warlord grants themselves bonus movement if they don’t equip medium/heavy armor or a shield** while also gaining boons and imposing disadvantage on enemies who attempt to opportunity attack them and their allies when they move. Resourceful Leader allows the Warlord to shift Battlefield Command dice among allies as a bonus action, as well as limited-use abilities to add proficiency bonus or command dice to certain d20 rolls. Shrewd Commander’s features are a mixture of offense and defense, the former allowing the warlord to mark a target to grant attack rolls and damage and the latter expending Battlefield Command dice to impose disadvantage when said marked target attacks. The Supreme Tactician gets a unique d4 Tactics Die which can be stored round by round to increase it one die type, all the way up to d12 until the Warlord or an ally chooses to roll it, at which point it resets to a d4. Later features of Supreme Tactician include adding half a Battlefield Command die result to AC for one turn, and another being able to reroll said die until it’s a 3rd or higher.

*That’s a Dragonlance reference: Laurana the Golden General was Tanis’ love interest who would later go on to lead the forces of good in battle against the wicked Dragonarmies.

**a big weakness considering the warlord gets no “add DEX + other ability score to AC” to make up for this as a martial.

In terms of overall appeal and usefulness, the Hordemaster is focused on a more specific party make-up, but the others are quite broad in being useful for various types of classes and roles. The Supreme Tactician’s core feature reminds me of 13th Age’s escalation die, in that while it is optimal for boss-style and longer fights it may not shine as much in volume-based dungeon crawls composed of many smaller fights. Daring Gambler is more optimal for players who have a better sense of their own and their enemy’s capabilities, as many of their features are risky to use if you don’t initially know the opposition’s save DCs/AC right off the bat. The rest of the Stratagems are broad in appeal, and I can see the Golden General being a favorite as it seems the most quintessentially “leader of men” type while also having an initial 3rd level ability (attack foe, next ally attack has advantage) as an appealing option.

Existing Class Comparisons: Valor Bards and Paladins are perhaps two of the closest leader types in the Core 5th Edition rules. The Bardic Inspiration die mimics several of the Warlord’s damage and AC boosting tactics. However, the Bardic Inspiration is more limited in that it refreshes every long rest, while a Warlord’s Command Die refreshes every short rest but activatse in more specific circumstances. The Battle Commands die starts out smaller at a d4 and reaches its max value later, but is more or less near-equivalent: the Warlord’s progression is d4 and grows in size every 4 levels, whereas the Bard starts at d6 and increases every 5 levels. The Warlord can also use defensive measures which allow their allies to resist damage once they’re hit or retaliate, whereas Bardic Inspiration with a Valor Bard only increases the initial roll/AC value but does nothing upon a failure or enemy hit.

For a Paladin comparison, much of the paladin’s teamwork-based abilities center around their spells and Channel Divinity. They have constantly-active auras, but they are limited in the types of resistances and immunities said can grant. As said abilities eat up the Paladin’s actions in most circumstances, they’d be less ‘active’ in combat than a Warlord who are more likely to have a proper Action of their own.

In terms of weak points, the core classes have a large advantage due to their spellcasting. While not as supplement-heavy as prior books, bards and paladins gain access to more things with the release of every new sourcebook containing spells. There’s also the fact that the bard has more general out of combat utility, and in terms of healing their allies’ wounds the Warlord is inferior.

Final Thoughts: In spite of the above, I’d allow the Warlord as a Dungeon Master. They do a good job in making the rest of the party do their iconic features better. As initiative is highly important, adding anywhere from 1d4 to 1d12 can make a large difference in the initial tide of battle.

Join us next time as we get all Council of Wyrms up in here and review In the Company of Dragons!

[Libertad]

Rite Publishing was one of the oldest and most prolific of 3rd party Pathfinder publishers in terms of the sheer volume of content. The company did not restrict itself to that one system and made OGL material for many other games which permitted such a license. In the Company of Dragons was one of its most popular products for making in-depth rules for dragon PCs in Pathfinder, and a conversion to 5th Edition was in the works almost as soon as said system got a proper OGL.

In the Company of Dragons is initially written from an in-character perspective by a dragon by the name Thunders in Defiance, offering his knowledge of dragon society to the reader as payment for said reader saving his young from an undefined danger.

This book’s fluff presents a specific setting for dragons a la Council of Wyrms. There’s a separate plane of existence home to a chain of islands known as the Lost Isles forged by Our Lady of the Rainbow Scales, a deific figure in draconic culture. A cancerlike magical taint was formed from uncertain origin and contained in the Well of Oblivion, where dark mockeries known as undragons spawn from and threaten the rest of their kind.

This book’s dragons are known as taninim, who are a distinct species from true dragons. They are primarily differentiated by their plane of birth: an egg which hatches on the Lost Isles becomes a taninim baby, while anywhere outside it becomes a true dragon wyrmling. In terms of thematics there’s not really any difference: both can fly, breathe lines or cones of harmful energy, grow large, and so on. The major difference is that taninim are not forever locked into a single alignment. Taninim dragons are divided into three major groups: the Organizers, or Lung dragons tasked with watching over the world at the behest of spirits; the Feykin, small dragons who have butterfly wings and claim to be spawned from dreams; and Truescale taninim of whom the writer belongs and are the prototypical European-style dragons.

On a metagame level I feel that in the Pathfinder era the taninim distinction was meant to explain how dragon PCs lacked many of the more powerful features of the monster type. But in 5th Edition, where the rules for building PCs and NPCs are completely different even for the same race, this seems a bit unnecessary.

Taninim society is a feudal gerontocracy, where older dragons capable of holding the most land grant rights to less powerful dragons to live upon said land in exchange for service. The Elder Voices are a council of the five oldest dragons who only converge in times of crisis that affect the race as a whole. The creation of children and egg-laying has religious significance, where parents undergo magical rites to ensure the safe growth of their offspring.

Like true dragons their moral outlook has an effect on the physical make-up of their bodies, but unlike true dragons they are capable of changing their ethical outlook much as any human who undergoes a moral or philosophical re-examination. This causes taninim to be more guarded from their peers when they sense disillusionment with an ideology, and true dragons find taninim to be a bit disconcerting.

Finally, taninim names are varied but gained in three major ways: a hatchling name chosen by their parents, a deed name granted by the Elder Voices for some service, and a personally-chosen name. Tananim do not view names as an inherent part of one’s nature, and a dragon viewed as unworthy by the community or a rival of said name can be challenged for it much like a duel.

Taninim Race

Taninim are a race all their own with 3 subraces from which to choose. They can take classes like anyone else, but also have a Draconic Exemplar class unique to their race which emphasizes the stereotypical dragon traits.

Base taninim...don’t have much. In terms of advantageous traits they gain +1 to Constitution and Charisma, have darkvision, a natural bite attack, and proficiency in Insight and Perception. All base taninim can create lairs and hoards, the former granting an effective line of sight to all creatures within said lair regardless of cover, invisibility, or other conditions, while the latter grants advantage on saving throws and +1 AC if the tananim keeps a number of valuables equal to 1,000 gp times their level within said lair for a month.

Their (non-dangerous) foreclaws are manipulative enough to be as nimble as human hands, but that’s where the positives end. They are quadrupedal, meaning that they are limited in what kinds of equipment they can wear, all armor is more expensive, and they are never proficient with shields. And finally, you are a Small sized dragon: if you want to grow in size categories, you’ll either need to take appropriate feats or level up in Draconic Exemplar.

The three subraces are rather different in what kinds of boons they can give. Truescale gains +1 Strength and Wisdom, a true flight speed of 30 feet, along with a natural tail attack and a 1/long rest AoE air buffet wing attack. Lung dragons gain +2 Strength, a 40 feet speed in walking and climbing, +1 AC, natural claw attacks, and 1d10 bonus piercing damage to foes engaged in a grapple. Finally, the Feykin are Tiny size, have +2 Dexterity,a flight speed of 30 feet, elf-like resistances to charm and sleep effects, a sorcerer cantrip of their choice, and their size category can never change either short-term or permanently from any source.

In terms of the subraces, the Truescale is the most attractive one in terms of being a big honkin’ dragon. It has flight and unlike the feykin is optimized for melee combat. The Lung’s climbing ability is overall inferior to flight, and its natural claws deal less damage than the truescale’s tail attack and unlike said tail does not have reach. I can’t really see the Feykin as being appealing to most who’d buy this book save for one-off gimmicks, as there are already options for playing small fairy-like beings also from the same publisher.

Tananim also get 3 new subclasses exclusive to their race: the Scaled Juggernaut’s a fighter subclass which grants increased bonuses to attack and damage rolls with claws, treat said claws as magical at 7th level, resistance to fire and cold damage, proficiency in all saving throws, and can Dash and knock an enemy prone with a claw attack. Its 18th level capstone is a Cleave-style ability which allows them to move their speed and make a claw attack for free for every foe they drop to 0 hit points to a maximum of 3 times per short rest. There’s also a new Fighting Style for base Fighters where a tananim gains +1 AC and 1d8 claw attacks or increased damage if they had them already, making the Lung even less appealing.

The other subclass is the White Worm Apostate domain for Clerics, which marks your character as an undragon pledged to the service of the god-like White Worm as your scales become infested with mold and worms. It grants bonus spells related to sickness, madness, and weakness, and its other class features include immunity to disease, using Channel Divinity to reduce the damage from any attack to 0 as a reaction, vomiting a swarm of worms which are treated as their own monsters who can gain hit points and attack/damage bonuses as you increase in level, and a 17th level capstone where 1/day you can spend a reaction to revive to full hit points with 1 level of exhaustion whenever you fail a death saving throw.

The Trueblood is a Sorcerer origin who represents the innate magical might of all dragons. They gain a draconic essence* which effectively grants them a breath weapon of scaling damage (max 6d6) in exchange for a moral compulsion, the ability to treat their own body as an arcane focus and not consume material components save on a natural 1 on a unique d20 roll, and at later levels gain more uses with their breath weapon between short rests and bonus essences. The 18th level capstone grants the ability to use a breath weapon as a bonus action for 3 sorcery points.

*described in the Draconic Exemplar class below.

The Scaled Juggernaut’s a bit of a one-trick pony, although proficiency in all saving throws is very nice. The White Worm Apostate has great defensive options, while the Trueblood is a bit overly-focused on breath weapons which makes it lack the versatile oomph of other sorcerer types. The ability to almost never need to worry about consuming material components is pretty nice, though.

But forget about those measly options. Do any of them help us grow into a mean, lean, greater-than-Small fighting machine? Well the Draconic Exemplar is the answer to all your woes! This class is heavily martial but with a few utility abilities: it has an impressive d12 Hit Die, is proficient in Strength and Intelligence saving throws, and chooses 3 skills from mostly-cerebral options: Arcana, Athletics, History, Insight [even though the race is already proficient], Intimidation, Nature, Persuasion, and Survival. The class has absolutely no proficiencies in any weapons, armor, tools, and doesn’t even start with any gold or equipment. But you don’t care because you’re a motherfucking dragon. When’s the last time you’ve seen Smaug wield a sword like a toothpick?

A Draconic Exemplar has a natural bite and claw attack whose damage dice and natural reach increase as they gain size categories: both attacks start out at a respectable 1d6, but at Gargantuan they are a mighty fine 2d10 and 1d12 respectively. You’re also proficient in them, and to make up for the lack of armor you add both your Dexterity and Constitution modifiers to the base 10 AC.

At 1st level the class has two important choices: a Draconic Gift and a Draconic Essence. The Gift determines the dragon’s preferred tactics: Gift of the Behemoth is all about strength, and includes options such as knocking people prone or flinging them into the air with natural attacks, immunity to the frightened condition, restoring hit points via sheer grit, and barreling through multiple opponents with a charge. Gift of the Ancients emphasizes one’s elemental nature, granting bonus energy damage to natural weapons, emitting a damaging energy field which also restores the dragon’s hit points, and can reflect magical spells back on the caster. The Gift of the Third Eye embeds a magical pearl in the dragon’s forehead, which gives them increased mental control over targets ranging from charm effects to mental suggestions and even damage just by glaring really hard. Even the magical and subtle abilities of the last gift add the Strength modifier to the DC, meaning that you can totally charm a target with your incredible reptilian pecs.

A Draconic Essence determines the specifics of the dragon’s scale color, breath weapons (which is a static 2d6), and a matching energy resistance based upon said breath weapon. There’s quite a lot representing existing true dragon clans, but each comes with a Compulsion that forces you to make a Wisdom saving throw when one acts against the nature of their Essence. Not all Compulsions are equal, and some are more deleterious to the typical party than others. For instance, the Balance compulsion forces a save whenever the dragon tries to commit an overtly good or evil deed, meaning that they may very well end up standing around doing nothing when the evil overlord’s army invades a city and is engaged in combat with their fellow PCs. Meanwhile, the Just compulsion forces a save whenever they’d commit an unjust action or allow one to happen without intervening, which isn’t very much different than how many good-aligned PCsoperate.

Draconic Exemplars also permanently grow one size category every 5 levels, to a maximum of Gargantuan at 20th. Feykin do not benefit from this but instead gain the ability to cast a new specific illusion spell (or Sleep at 5th) 1/day each every time they’d grow.  The text explicitly calls out that size increases your weight and melee attack reach, but leaves the damage dice of your natural weapons unmentioned which implies that Feykin can still do some good damage even if they’re Tiny. But if you wanted to be optimized for melee, you’d be a Truescale or Lung who have Strength bonuses, and the bonus spells aren’t enough to make the Feykin on par with a Bard, Rogue, or illusionist Wizard.

For those times when going around as a dragon is too unsubtle, draconic exemplars can transform into a single identity of a humanoid form at 3rd level. They cannot use most of their form-specific class features while in this form, and given that the class has no real spells or weapon/armor proficiencies so one cannot really do much in said form.

At 5th level onwards the majority of their class features are combat-related: extra attacks at 5th and 14th level, advantage on initiative rolls and immunity to surprise attacks at 7th, counting natural weapons as magical at 9th, an AoE belly-flop at 13th, and at 18th an AoE roar which can frighten and deafen all targets in a cone.

Existing Class Comparisons: As a class the Draconic Exemplar is good at one thing: doing dragon things in combat. More utility features such as Gift of the Third Eye and the Feykin’s spells can be better accomplished by casting classes who have far more choices on top of that. But when it comes to wreaking havoc the Draconic Exemplar kicks ass. Only the Fighter gets more Extra Attacks, but the Exemplar has higher damage dice and reach on said attacks, while also being able to impose additional conditions with the right Gift and gains limited-use AoE attacks with their breath weapon, roar, and belly-flop. In comparison to the Barbarian the Exemplar has some similarities (hit dice, Con modifier to AC, advantage on initiative, etc) but in terms of superiority the barbarian can do better in terms of raw staying power from raging and Strength rolls at higher levels. In terms of damage in melee combat, a dragon’s bite as Large (2d6) catches up with a 1d12 greataxe, and the bonus extra attack at 14th level can outdamage the barbarian in most cases barring Brutal Criticals.

Making one’s natural weapons count as magical is a good idea, given that there’s quite a bit of enemies in the Monster Manual which are either resistant or immune. In most cases they are extraplanar entities. It still doesn’t solve the problem of silver/adamantine/etc defenses, but is a step in the right direction.

The final section of the book are 12 new Taninim Feats, which as usual are specific to their race. 3 of them relate to enhancing one’s breath weapon, such as imposing disadvantage on ability checks of the dragon’s choice to those caught within the line/cone, the ability to breath twice in two different directions as part of the same action, and the ability to reshape one’s breath weapon and avoid friendly fire for up to 2 targets. 3 more feats relate to biting, such as giving the incapacitated condition on a critical hit for 1 round, the ability to swallow a small enough target whole and deal acid damage to those inside,* and the ability to behead a creature on a critical hit which can kill a target provided they need said head to live and aren’t a boss monster (aka have legendary actions).** Two of the feats raise the dragon’s size category by 1*** as well as granting +1 to an ability score of their choice, while the remaining feats are miscellaneous effects. Complex Essence grants a bonus draconic essence which can make your scale colors dual or mixed colors in addition to choosing from 2 kinds of breath weapons; Dreaded Presence grants +1 Charisma, can make your voice up to three times louder, and gain advantage on all Intimidation checks. Flyby Attack allows you to avoid opportunity attacks provided you use your movement to fly out of a creature’s reach. Finally Greater Crush increases the damage of a belly-flop from 3d8 to 5d8 and deals half damage on a failed save rather than no damage.

*but an unfinished sentence on how to escape and said attempt’s DC.

**in which case it adds 6d8 bonus damage in addition to the critical hit effects.

***can’t be taken as a Draconic Exemplar.

The feats centered around breath weapons are both useful and cool, although the bite-based feats are more situational. Flyby Attack is great as it allows for reliable hit and run tactics. I am a bit mum on the size category increasing ones. Although the +1 to an ability score each time prevents it from being too much of a tax, you can only grow to a maximum of Large size and the only benefits greater-than-Medium categories grant in 5th Edition are increased reach. Meaning that you’re making a long-term investment to hit up to 10 feet away (15 if Truescale with tail) with your natural weapons, which a human Fighter with a reach weapon can effectively do without any feat expenditures.

Final Thoughts: In the Company of Dragons is an okay book. The sample race on its own is not exactly impressive in terms of delivering on the “be a badass dragon” angle, and given their similarities in roles and styles I cannot see any player picking a Scaled Juggernaut Fighter over a Draconic Exemplar. The truescale subrace is way too appealing an option in comparison to the others.

The product’s new class is the star of the show, and it provides both a simple yet effective 20 level class. The Draconic Exemplar’s major weaknesses are that there’s not much it can do outside of combat, but the same can easily be said of the Barbarian and Fighter. The breath weapon is a bit weak at a static 2d6, and only a Trueblood Sorcerer increases its base value. As it is a once per short rest ability, I’d personally make it scale like the Sorcerer archetype given that said class already has a bunch of damage-increasing blasty spell options while the Draconic Exemplar doesn’t.

The discussion of taninim society feels a bit tacked on, and is actually cribbed from the much larger Pathfinder supplement. The fluff on the Council of Wyrms-flavored setting cannot help but make one feel that the word space could’ve been given over to further development on mechanics. I imagine that most players aren’t going to care about the differences from “true dragons,” and given how many settings handle the nature and culture of dragons differently the race and class are good enough as-is for a settingless Dragon PC option.

Join us next time as we teleport around in the air like we just don’t care with the Mist Walker!

[Libertad]

Taking 20 is a very popular YouTube channel specializing in 5th Edition content with a bit of Pathfinder and Starfinder on the side. Cody Lewis, the creator and owner of said channel, decided to try his hand in self-publishing a homebrew class. The Mist Walker takes the rather popular concept of a teleporting warrior and builds an entire class around it. While there are some archetypes capable of this already in 5th Edition, they usually don’t have it right off the bat or have to use it under certain circumstances, whereas the Mist Walker is capable of at-will short-range teleportation by default.

Fluffwise Mist Walkers are practitioners of a skill of unknown origins which utilizes “the mists” to move about unhindered. They tend to belong to martial orders, assassin’s guilds, and the like. As this book is OGL and not part of the DM’s Guild, the ode to Ravenloft is subtle rather than blatant. For those not read up on ‘Ravenloftian lore, the Mists are an omnipresent and seemingly intelligent force which makes up the foundation of the Demiplane of Dread. It is capable of being manipulated by its most infamous prisoners, the Darklords, to afflict and imprison those within their domains of influence. The Vistani are a human ethnic group based off of the Roma people who are the only known beings capable of traversing the Mists without difficulty or error.

Cody’s Mist Walker more or less tosses out the themes of subtle corruption in trying to control such a thing. The closest we get is with the Conviction of the Shroud subclass which manipulates life energy to harm foes, but there’s no Faustian bargains or alignment tendencies. You’re more akin to Noctis from Final Fantasy XV than a horror movie monster stalking one’s prey.

Mist Walkers as a class are a stealth/martial hybrid: d10 hit die, proficiency with light armor and shields, can use all simple weapons plus smaller blades (short swords, scimitars, rapiers), is proficient with the poisoner’s kit, and chooses three skills which are very close to the Rogue’s options (Acrobatics, Deception, etc).

The Mist Walker’s main class feature is...well, Mist Walk. It is an at-will teleportation which is performed as part of or in replacement of one’s movement rather than an action on its own. Its distance starts out at 30 feet but increases by 10 feet at 4th level and every 4 levels after, and its major restrictions are that you cannot combine it with the Dash action and you can only Mist Walk to places you can see, meaning that a blind Mist Walker loses the use of their primary feature. Mist Walk automatically avoids triggering opportunity attacks, which is one of the more common bits of contention on Drive-Thru RPG reviews besides the at-will teleport.

Beyond just teleporting, the Mist Walk ability’s total distance is halved if you mix it up with mundane forms of movement, which in turn are halved as well. At 3rd and higher levels you can add a +1 to +3 bonus on attack rolls when you first use Mist Walk, at 5th level you can teleport another half of your max Mist Walk as a bonus action, and at 7th level you can Mist Walk half your distance as a reaction to avoid hostile AoEs provided that you succeed on the saving throw in the first place.

As an example of said uses (plus some class features detailed below), let’s say that some foolish wizard shoots a Fireball at a 20th-level elven Mist Walker in an urban metropolis. Said Mist Walker can teleport onto a four-story roof (40 feet) as a reaction to avoid said Fireball, mundane move 15 feet to take cover behind a chimney and snipe back at their foe, and then teleport 40 feet onto a nearby balcony out of the sniper’s line of sight as part of their movement. But, as a bonus action they mist walk another 40 feet under an awning at ground level to further throw the wizard off their trail.

Beyond this core feature, the Mist Walker lets you add your Intelligence and Dexterity modifiers to your Armor Class while not wearing armor, and you can choose from Fighting Styles but only Dueling or Two-Weapon Fighting. You gain an Extra Attack at 5th level, can reroll an Intelligence-based ability or skill check 1/short rest at 6th level, add your Intelligence modifier to all weapon damage at 9th, add Intelligence bonus to all Wisdom and Charisma saves at 10th a limited number of times per day equal to said Intelligence bonus, and Blindsight of 15 feet at 13th level. A rather large number of utility features are unrelated to mist-walking, but several are quite good: adding two ability score modifiers to weapon damage is really nice, and given that Mist Walkers are proficient in Dexterity and Intelligence saves the ability to add the latter to the other mental saves helps shore up the class’ likely weak willpower.

Mist Walkers also gain Shroud Abilities at 2nd level, letting you gain a number of Shroud Points equal to their level which refresh on a long rest. Shroud Abilities represent quick summoning of the mist in order to avert disaster or act quickly. The class grants 3 different Shroud Abilities immediately: Cloaking Mist creates a 30 foot radius of mist which is similar to darkness in terms of concealment, Veiled Shield adds +2 to +4 AC* as a reaction to a melee attack, and Jaunt moves you as a reaction upon taking damage up to half your Mist Walk distance in a direction of your choice. All three abilities have very good uses, although I can see Veiled Shield seeing the most use.

*dependent upon level.

At 17th level and above our final 3 class features get more explicit in the use of mist. 17th level allows you to cast Mirror Image as a bonus action which can move and teleport in tandem with you; can do a normal Teleport spell without components at 18th level whose recharge rate varies from a long rest to 1d6 days depending on if you teleport additional creatures; and finally at 20th level you can create a clone of yourself 1/long rest out of the mists themselves. Said clone has near-identical stats save that they add only their Intelligence modifier to damage, cannot duplicate magic items (wielded and worn items become closest mundane equivalent), add Intelligence and no proficiency bonus to all saving throws, has half your Mist Walk distance, and is immune to various conditions due to being a mindless artificial entity.

Mist Walker Convictions serve as the subclass options, and we get 3 different ones representing differing ways for how Mist Walkers shape their talents and abilities. The Conviction of the Blade pursues its martial uses to the exclusion of others, Conviction of the Mind focuses on aiding allies and battlefield control, while Conviction of the Shroud taps into the mists’ pseudo-Ravenloftian vibe to drain others’ life force to power yourself or another.

Each gets an ability at 7th, 11th, and 15th levels, but the amount of initial 3rd level abilities varies wildly: Blade gets 2, Shroud gets 3, while Mind gets a whopping 6! The Mind is the most front-loaded and has the widest use in utility for tactics and builds, some of which even step on Blade’s toes in seeming more martial than usual.

Conviction of the Blade grants a Shroud Ability which can forcefully teleport opponents a short distance of your choosing into an open space, and can do so at no Shroud Point cost on a critical hit. At 7th level all of your weapons count as magical. At 11th level you can mark a struck target to deal 1d10 bonus force damage on attacks for infinite duration, or until said target moves farther than 150 feet away. The 15th level ability grants a 1/short rest feature where you deal 12d10 bonus force damage after studying a target via a successful Investigation check as a bonus action.

Conviction of the Mind is heavily front-loaded. Its 3 bonus Shroud Abilities include clouding a target’s mind with mist to impose -2 to AC, saves, and preventing use of reactions, using the mists to disarm-teleport the weapon of a creature that you struck as a bonus action, and creating obscuring mists over a nearby target to impose disadvantage on attacks for one turn. The three non-Shroud initial features include the ability to grant nearby allies short-range Mist Walking, the ability to refresh Shroud Points 1/day during a short rest instead of a long rest, and can swap the positions of two willing targets within half your Mist Walk distance.

The 7th level ability allows you to take creatures with you on a Mist Walk a limited number of times per day equal to your Intelligence modifier (or twice that at 13th level) and give them advantage on their next attack after ending said Mist Walk. At 11th level you can interrupt enemy spellcasting by teleporting up to 30 feet to them as a reaction and get in a free attack 1/short rest, and at 15th level you can swap places with a willing ally just about to be hit by an attack as a reaction.

Conviction of the Shroud grants a Shroud Ability that heals hit points equal to your Intelligence modifier to all allies within 10 feet, and double and triple that at higher levels. The other 2 initial features include the ability to Hide as a bonus action whenever you use Mist Walk as part of your movement, and the ability to transfer 1d6 to 5d6 plus your Intelligence modifier in hit points from yourself to a touched ally. At 7th level you can create a toxic mist which grants the drowning and incapacitated conditions to those who fail a Constitution save. At 11th level you can create life-sapping mist in a 30 foot radius centered on you that deals 4d6 damage to any number of creatures of your choice, and can divvy up the damage as restored hit points to any number of other creatures within range that you desire. The 15th level final ability allows you to wreath a number of creatures equal to your Intelligence modifier in a protective purple mist, gaining +2 AC, 1d4 temporary hit points, and they cannot be magically slowed. Besides the Shroud Ability and 15th level feature which is 1/short rest, all of Shroud’s abilities are usable a number of times per day equal to your Intelligence modifier, and twice or even thrice that depending on level.

Existing Class Comparisons: The Mist Walker is clearly meant to be a mobile striker with some stealth and scouting capabilities, which brings to mind classes such as Fighter, Monk, Ranger, and Rogue. But before we tackle anything else, let us bring up at-will short-range teleportation. Unless I’m missing something in the newer books such as Wildemount, the Way of Shadows Monk and the Horizon Walker Ranger are the only two subclasses which can do something close to what the Mist Walker can. They’re of more limited use: the Shadow Monk at 6th level can teleport 60 feet as a bonus action but only between areas of dim light and darkness, which interestingly means that they’re not likely limited by line of sight given visual obscurement. The Horizon Walker at 11th level can go but a mere 10 feet, but gets up to 3 attacks provided that they attack at least 2 different targets. The Shadow Sorcerer can do what the Shadow Monk does, but 120 feet and at 14th level.

In comparison to classes in general, the Mist Walker is pretty strong, although in ways other than Mist Walking. The ability to stack bonuses on attack rolls when making attacks as part of Mist Walk can break Bounded Accuracy, and adding Intelligence on top of Strength and Dexterity for weapon damage is pretty sweet. But in terms of raw damage output it can’t attack as much as a Fighter with Action Surge, nor does it have the Rogues’ Sneak Attack. Its lack of proficiency with martial ranged weapons* is a bit of a weak point. While conjuring concealing mists is nice, such an effect is more noticeable to guards than the vaunted Invisibility spell. That several of the pseudo-mist abilities can be blown away by strong winds or dissipate after a minute are more points against its favor. I can definitely see class’ potential brokenness, although this will vary for a variety of monsters and tactics: the Mist Walker’s going to shine in a wide open area and/or facing melee-focused monsters without much mobility. But against many offensive spellcasters, creatures which can blind, create obscuring or illusory effects, and prefer cramped dungeon corridors with lots of cover can befuddle the Mist Walker.

While it can seem rather powerful, opportunity attack-focused builds are more common on the PC side** than the NPC/Monster side in 5th Edition. While a Mist Walker can easily kite slower monsters without ranged attacks, the same can be said for an archer with a mount.

*unless you’re playing an elf or something.

**Namely feats such as Polearm Mastery and Sentinel.

Final Thoughts: The Mist Walker is a bit all over the place, and as such feels unfocused. The vibe one gets is a supernatural warrior unhindered by the limitations of physical space, with some assassin vibes thrown in. But besides teleportation the Mist Walker doesn’t have many means of actually concealing their presence from greater-than-normal perceptions and detection. The creation of concealing mist is a bit of a double-edged sword, as while the Mist Walker can conjure it to befuddle opponents it also negates their line of sight in or out of said mist which limits their core feature. The core class and subclass abilities are all over the place in terms of refresh rates, ranging from short rests to long rests to per-day uses which can double or triple all at different rates. This only serves to add more book-keeping for the player.

In terms of Convictions, Mind is the superior option, especially in comparison to Blade. Two of the Mind’s shroud abilities (disarming and disadvantage on attacks) feel more pertinent to Blade, whereas the forceful teleportations feel more in line with Mind’s battlefield control. Interrupting enemy spellcasters also sounds right up Blade’s alley. But most of all, Mind’s ability to refresh Shroud Points on a short rest 1/day effectively doubles said resource. This allows them to use both their base and Conviction-specific Shroud Abilities twice as often than if the Mist Walker picked either of the other two Convictions.

Conviction of Shroud’s a bit of a mixed bag. Its 7th and 11th level abilities are the sweetest, but its final 15th level ability is a bit underwhelming. The initial 3rd level features’ magical healing is both less than a Cure Wounds spell and saps the Mist Walker’s hit points which makes them less widely-useful as a typical divine healer. The 11th level ability opens up a variant Bag of Rats exploitation, but given its limited use and class’ overall lack of spell slots this isn’t really a big deal.

I don’t think I’d use this class as is in a campaign. I’d rebalance the Convictions at the very least, and try to make a more unified rest-based refresh rate of class features for consistency’s sake.

Join us next time as we review what a Jojo reference is with the Channeler!

[Libertad]

Dungeons & Dragons has been borrowing concepts from a wide variety of media since its founding. The advent of the OGL let fans insert their own preferences beyond the tastes of Wizards of the Coast employees, so it was natural that we’d get a product that is a Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures reference and with some Persona influences too.

The Channeler is a class centered around a person whose internal psyche manifests as a spectral entity formed from a forgotten memory. Also known as phantasms, the origins of said entities are unknown, and most channelers are self-taught due to the rareness and lack of knowledge of their existence in wider communities. Phantasms take a variety of forms and roles, usually in relation to the memory responsible for their existence.

The Channeler’s role is either that of a ‘magical martial’ or specialized spellcaster depending upon their specific kind of phantasms. The class has a d8 Hit Die, is proficient Wisdom and Charisma saves, only simple weapons and no armor or shields, and chooses two skills from a rather diverse list: you have your physical options such as Acrobatics and Athletics but also all of the social skills and some ‘knowledge’ ones such as Investigation, Nature, Perception, and Survival.

The Channeler seems a bit squishy, but their phantasm does much of the grunt work. Phantasms are unique extraplanar incorporeal aberrations which are naturally invisible* and tethered to the Channeler in a ball and chain way which limits how far they can be separated. They can move no more than 5 feet from the Channeler barring one specific Aspect, but they automatically move an equal amount whenever the Channeler does. The Channeler’s own body counts as their native plane of existence which they shunt back to in the event of out of bounds movement, banishing effects, etc and can be summoned and dismissed as a bonus action and normal action respectively. Phantasms have quite a bit going for them: they use the Channeler’s proficiency bonus and Charisma for attack and damage rolls, being invisible means that they have advantage on attack rolls in most circumstances, and they are immune to all conditions and damage types save for force damage and magical bludgeoning/piercing/slashing attacks. They do not have their own hit points, and all damage is transferred to the Channeler; this makes AoE effects quite dangerous as the Channeler can end up taking double damage, but given that most AoE spells have an energy type in which the phantasm is immune this is not as common as one thinks.

*save to Channelers and creatures with Truesight, and can be outlined with invisible-countering spells.

The phantasm’s AC and that of the Channeler’s is the same (12/13/14 + Channeler’s Wisdom modifier depending upon the Aspect type) when the latter is not wearing armor, and while they have their own senses the Channeler can perceive through their phantasm by becoming deaf and blind themselves for the duration. Phantasms have no will of their own and more or less act at the behest of the caster, meaning that in some cases the channeler must transfer an ‘action’ of their own to order them to do something.

The Channeller’s other major feature is their Soul Dice, a number of d8s equal to their level which represent calling upon inner reserves to push themselves beyond their normal limits. Up to 3 Soul Dice (dependent upon level) can be spent at once, and the Channeler adds their Charisma modifier to the result. By default this number is added to the damage dealt by a phantasm’s attack, but certain types of Phantasms and Manifestations can let the Channeler add it to the result of certain skill checks and at 14th level to the results of a saving throw. Soul Dice are recovered all at once during a long rest, or half their Channeler level rounded down 1/day during a short rest.

Phantasmal Aspects represent the 3 different types of Phantasms a Channeler can manifest. Its type is chosen at character generation, after which point it cannot be changed. They all have their own features which are gained as the Channeler levels up, but one universal feature is granting proficiency in an additional saving throw at 13th level related to said Aspect (or one of the PC’s choice if they’re already proficient). In the case of the Iron Myrmidon and Harmonic Magician they have particular class features which cause them to become visible (wielded weapons and spellcasting respectively) but at 11th level they can use said features while remaining invisible.

The Chronos Avenger represents a memory regretting a past error or yearning for something long since past, and has time-related abilities ranging from being able to reform a broken object by rewinding time, temporarily freezing time via a ‘time slip’ to take another turn’s worth of actions, Extra attacks with the phantasm’s unarmed strikes and spike-throwing ranged attacks, the ability to attack a third time as a bonus action, a scrying window that can only see up to 10 days into the past, and a 20th level capstone where their bonus turn time slip ability can be triggered as a reaction even in a Timestop spell or similar effects.

The Iron Myrmidon comes from a memory of safety and protection, or at least the desire for it. It has abilities related to this, such as being able to manifest hovering shields which can grant +2 AC to an ally, the expenditure of Soul Dice at 7th level to reduce damage dealt to said ally by that amount, the ability to telekinetically move metal objects via magnetism and turning metal objects into natural magnets, a phantasmal arsenal where the phantasm can proficiently wield and use existing weapons and store them in an extradimensional storage space,* the ability to turn into a mobile platform that can hold up to 1,500 pounds of weight* but can also mow down opponents effortlessly via selective incorporeality and deal damage, turn into a 5 foot translucent cube that is immune to all forms of damage and conditions save a disintegrate spell, and a 20th level capstone ability where they can shoot out all of their extradimensional weapons at once in a spinning field that does selective damage to all within a 10 foot radius.

*and an infinite number of weight beyond that, but loses the ability to move until they’re under 1.5k pounds.

The Harmonic Magician is formed from a memory of discordant voices and sounds of some unknown yet important event, and is the “spellcaster” option for Channelers. Although the weakest aspect physically and lacking Multiattack, it is relatively untethered and can move freely independent of the Channeler up to 60 feet distant. Its main class feature is granting the Channeler access to actual spells and cantrips, drawing from its own class list of spells up to 5th level, and the aspect is similar to a familiar in that the Channeler can cast spells through them. Other features include the ability to spend Soul Dice to increase the damage dealt or healed with spells, converting Soul Dice to spell slots, an audible magic sonar which outlines invisible creatures to the Channeler and can disrupt concentration spells as a more focused single target attack, can record ritual-friendly spells as rituals onto magical plates even if it’s from other class’ spell list, and as a 20th level capstone ability can have the Channeler and the Aspect cast the same spell twice at the same time but with only one slot.

The class-specific spell list for the Harmonic Magician is a rather broad assortment. It’s got many energy-based and AoE damage dealing spells, but has quite a bit of utility magic such as Charm Person, Invisibility, Leomund’s Tiny Hut, and the like. Combined with the ritual casting plates, the Harmonic Magician is by far the most versatile Aspect for the Channeler class.

Manifestations are personalized expressions of the Channeler’s memories beyond just their Aspects, shaped to encourage exemplary abilities in certain fields. The Channeler gains 2 Manifestations at 2nd level, a third at 5th and another every 2 levels up to 9th, at which point they gain 1 every 3 levels up to a maximum of 8 at 18th level. They’re similar to feats in that you either have them or you don’t, and there’s a list of general Manifestions plus a few specific to certain Aspects.

I won’t go over all of them, but there’s a few which allow you to add Soul Dice results to various skills: Acrobatics and Athletics for peerless athletes, Investigation and Perception for savvy-eyed individuals, etc. There are Soul Dice options for other effects such as healing touch or adding to an ally’s saving throw results, albeit in the non-skill cases they are usually limited based on a short or long rest independent of how many Soul Dice you have remaining. Some non-Soul Dice Manifestations include automatically disengaging from opponents whenever you Dash and gain a bonus 10 feet while doing so, the ability to let your Phantasm pick up and manipulate objects,* increasing the reach of your Phantasm’s attacks by 5 feet as your bonus action, and one where your phantasm can emit a telepathic alarm whenever a non-designated creature comes within 30 feet of you.

*But not activate magic items or use weapons unless they have features specifically allowing this.

The Aspect-specific Manifestations are keyed to said Aspects’ strong suits, such as the Chronos Avenger treating their attacks as magical or increased uses of time slip, or the Harmonic Magician reducing the conversion cost of Soul Dice to spell slots or using its magical sonar to perfectly imitate any sound the Channeler heard within the past 24 hours.

Our book ends with a handy-dandy cheat sheet guide, and a list of FAQs at the end for situational rules and effects:

Existing Class Comparisons: The Channeler’s role in the party is dependent upon whether or not they choose Harmonic Magician as their Aspect. Otherwise they are by default a mostly-martial build albeit acting through a summoned proxy. They’re a bit of a glass cannon in this regard, as while they are capable of getting a high Armor Class with the right Aspect and Manifestations their rather average d8 hit die and inability to use magical armor or shields limits their defense unless they choose Iron Myrmidon. That the Chrono Avenger’s natural attacks are not counted as magical save via a Manifestation tax is a point against its favor.

The Harmonic Magician is akin to a Paladin, Ranger, or Warlock in that they have spell slots but do not go up to 9th level. They feel a bit closest to Wizards in terms of blasty/utility mix, and they can make for a nice “minor arcanist” in a pinch. While they may not get the continual short rest recharge rate of warlocks or the sheer power of post-5th slots, the use of Soul Dice can make them cast said minor magics much more often over a typical adventuring day.

Final Thoughts: In terms of general utility the non-Harmonic Aspects have some neat tricks but are rather situational, and in terms of scouting the natural invisibility of said Aspects are limited given they have to be adjacent to the Channeler at all times. The right Manifestation can easily break 5th Edition’s bounded accuracy with the expenditure of Soul Dice, but given it’s typically 2 related skills means that said Channeler will not be an all-purpose skill monkey unless they spend most of their Manifestation choices on such options.

The Harmonic Magician turns the Channeler into a capable spellcaster, and the ability to burn Soul Dice for spell slots means that they aren’t at risk of running out of spells anytime soon at mid-to-high levels. That their Aspect can go much farther and deliver spells through it is great for scouting and guerilla warfare purposes, not to mention that the “vague sounds” is much broader in terms of potential lost memories than the regret/nostalgia/safety shtick of the other two Aspects.

Join us next time as we see Matthew Mercer try his hand at converting the Witcher to D&D with the Blood Hunter class!

[Libertad]

A Note on Revisions: Someone asked me if I planned to review the old and new versions of the Blood Hunter side by side. I suppose this is an answer for all the classes I’ve reviewed and plan to review (which have all been updated to varying degrees), but unless the changes are drastic or otherwise notable I only plan to review the latest versions as of these postings.

There’s a fair chance that many of you know about Matthew Mercer. If not, he’s a very successful livestreamer of Critical Role, a YouTube/Twitch channel which plays Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop games from time to time. CR has helped bring in new fans to D&D to the point that “Critters” are a noticeable subculture in and of themselves. Mercer’s own homebrew campaign of Wildemount was popular enough that Wizards of the Coast published it as an official setting. But Mercer’s been designing products here and there for far longer. Back in 2015 he collaborated with Vin Diesel to make a new character class, the Witch Hunter, based off of one of Vin’s movies. Initially free and not playtested, the Witch Hunter would turn into the Blood Hunter as a Pay What You Want Product on the Dungeon Master’s Guild in 2016. It was revised again in 2018 and most recently in 2020, the latter of which was released as a new product in and of itself.

I will admit that I never saw the Last Witch Hunter, but when reading the fluff text of the Blood Hunter they sound closest to a copyright-friendly Witcher: Blood Hunters study a long-lost magical tradition known as Hemocraft to physically enhance their own bodies and manipulate the elements at the temporary cost of their own blood and health. Blood Hunters use this magic to defend civilization from monsters of all stripes, organizing into societies to share their knowledge and resources.

As a class the Blood Hunter is a brainy martial: d10 hit die, proficient in Dexterity and Intelligence saving throws, alchemist’s supplies, and all weapons and armor save for heavy armor. They can choose three skills from a mix of physical and knowledge types. At 1st level a Blood Hunter has advantage on Survival checks in tracking fey, fiends, and undead and Intelligence ability and skill checks to know things about them. Additionally, they learn a Blood Maledict, a unique means of using their own life force to fuel a debilitating offensive curse, and can learn more as they gain levels. They also get the typical Fighting Style at 2nd level and Extra Attack at 5th level that most martial classes have.

One thing I should note before continuing. Two of the Blood Hunter’s class features, notably the Blood Maledicts’ amplified effects and Crimson Rites, require them to cut their own flesh, drawing power from wounds in the form of 1d4 to 1d10 damage* per use. This is a very heavy expenditure at lower levels in comparison to higher ones, as even a 1d4 can be deadly at 1st or 2nd level. The major Hemocraft centric class features include Crimson Rites, where you can enchant a wielded or natural weapon with 1d4 bonus damage of a specific energy type until the next short or long rest, and you can learn more energy types as the Blood Hunter increases in level. They also gain the ability to brand a target at 6th level which allows them to never lose track of their target as well as damaging them when they attack back. Said Brand at 13th level prevents the target from taking the Dash action, teleporting, or otherwise leaving their current plane of existence.

*die grows as the Blood Hunter levels up.

The other class features are more sedentary and blood-less. At 9th level they can use History to recall information about an object or building they touch with advantage pertaining to grim and evil things; at 10th level they increase their speed by 5 feet and add their Intelligence bonus to physical saving throws; at 14th level they gain advantage on saves vs being charmed or frightened; at 20th level they can reroll their Hemocraft Die and take the lower result while also regaining one use of Blood Maledict whenever they get a critical hit with a Crimson Rite-empowered weapon.

Blood Maledicts: A Blood Hunter can learn up to 5 Blood Curses over the course of a 20 level career, and there are 11 in this book. As four of those can only be taken by a specific Order subclass and gained automatically as a result of the process, the Blood Hunter is not exactly overwhelmed with options. Every Curse can only be used a limited amount of times per short rest based on class level, but can also be Amplified to be more powerful than usual albeit at the cost of losing hit points equal to the result of the Hemocraft Die.

Summarizing the Curses, most of them impose various kinds of debuffs and in some cases damage (usually necrotic or psychic) and are all “Blood Curse of X” in title. They are also restrictive in that they can only work against targets that have blood in their system whether it’s their own or another’s. Most of them are quite useful in a variety of situations. [Blood Curse of] Binding reduces a target’s speed to 0 feet and prevents use of reactions until the next turn or for 1 minute if Amplified (new save every round). Exposure is triggered by reaction, causing the target to lose resistance or immunity if applied against a damaging effect targeting them.* One Blood Curse I particularly like is the Fallen Puppet, where as a reaction the Blood Hunter causes a target who just fell unconscious or died within 30 feet to make a single attack against a target within attack range (and half movement if Amplified). Another nice one is The Eyeless, where an attacking creature subtracts the number rolled on the Hemocraft Die** from their attack roll (or all attack rolls made that turn if Amplified). Muddled Mind imposes disadvantage on the next Constitution save a target makes with a concentration spell, being a good anti-magic option.

*is still rolled if used normally, but makes higher-level Blood Hunters capable of imposing larger penalties.

**the attack can be done by an ally rather than the Blood Hunter themselves, making for a nice team player.

Two of the more situational ones include Anxious, which makes a target easier to Intimidate and forces disadvantage on the resisting roll when Amplified, while Bloated Agony imposes disadvantage on Strength and Dexterity checks and deals damage every time the target performs an attack more than once per round (longer duration when Amplified).

The Order-specific curses are invariably high level for prerequisites, ranging from 15th to 18th, and are automatically gained as part of being in that Order at the appropriate level. Blood Curse of the Exorcist (Ghost Slayer) instantly dispels any charm, frightened, or possessed condition on a target with no chance to resist and deals bonus psychic damage to the bestower of said condition if Amplified. Blood Curse of Corrosion (Mutant) imposes the poisoned condition on a target as a bonus action and a failed Constitution save, and 4d6 poison damage every turn they remain poisoned if Amplified. Blood Curse of the Howl unleashes a roar that stuns and frightens targets in a 30 foot radius or 60 feet if Amplified, albeit you cannot be selective of targets which limits its utility due to friendly fire. Finally, Blood Curse of the Soul Eater as a reaction grants advantage on attacks until the end of the Blood Hunter’s next turn whenever a (non-construct non-undead) creature drops within 30 feet of them and restores a warlock spell slot if Amplified.

Blood Hunter Orders are societies dedicated to the study and fighting of a related set of creatures, and serve as the Blood Hunter’s subclass. We have 4 to choose from. Order of the Ghostslayer specializes in undead of all kinds and grants a new Crimson Rite which has various anti-undead measures (radiant damage, resistance to necrotic damage, etc), a bonus Blood Malediction of the Blood Hunter’s choice as well as the ability to use curses against bloodless targets, the ability to turn Ethereal for a limited number of rounds at 7th level, adding bonus Hemocraft die worth of damage when attacking undead and/or branded creature (which cannot become ethereal while the brand’s active), and at 18th level can avoid dropping to 0 hit points by ending an active Crimson Rite and dropping to 1 hit point instead.

Overall, a rather good option. I feel that the bonus damage and Blood Malediction are a bit unimaginative, but being able to expand said Maledictions to affect any kind of target as well as limited Etherealness are very good features.

Order of the Profane Soul instructs its initiates to make pacts with entities in the ways warlocks do so as to better fight fiends, mages, and other entities which take more than muscle and steel to take down. The subclass grants warlock spellcasting albeit at slower progression, which is really good. They can also use held weapons activated as a Crimson Rite as a spell focus, and depending on their chosen Warlock patron can impose various debuffs and beneficial side effects: Archfey prevents a target from becoming invisible or taking advantage of cover due to a magical light, Great Old One imposes the frightened condition, Celestial can heal a creature within 60 feet equal to Hemocraft die + Intelligence modifier, etc. At 7th level they can make a weapon attack as a bonus action whenever they cast a cantrip. Also at 7th and 15th level they gain a 1/long rest use of a specific spell depending upon their patron, and tend to have direct combat uses such as buffs, debuffs, and damaging effects although there’s a few utility and healing spells included. 11th level imposes disadvantage for a branded creature on saves vs the Blood Hunter’s warlock spells. May seem like this class’ features end early, but the further options are the 15th level spell I mentioned, and the Curse of the Souleater bonus Malediction at 18th level.

Another strong option, particularly due to the opening up of warlock spells. As you can choose the Hexblade as a patron, you can totally play that angsty gish you always wanted but with a d10 Hit Die!

Order of the Mutant focuses on self-improvement over the base alchemical modifications all Blood Hunters undergo. Said orders’ abilities revolve around learning formulas for mutagens which grant short-term boosts of various kinds albeit at a cost to something else. They can only be used by the Blood Hunter and nobody else, and the number of mutagens which can affect them at once ranges from 1 to 3 depending on their level. They start with 4 formulas and learn more as they level up. There are 20 mutagens total, and include a rather diverse mixture. Quite a few of them grant advantage* on various d20 rolls, resistance to damage, etc but disadvantage/vulnerability on a related subject as the body min-maxes to compensate. Some of the more notable mutagens include granting true flight for 1 hour but disadvantage on STR/DEX ability checks; “fast healing” of a few hit points per round as long as you’re between 1 hit point up to 50% of your total but reduces speed by 10 feet; and a bonus use of Blood Maledict but disadvantage on death saving throws.

*or a +3 to +5 bonus in the case of an ability score

The other Order features include immunity to poison condition and damage at 3rd level, the ability to ignore the negative effects of a mutagen for 1 minute 1/long rest at 7th level, force branded targets to be unable to use polymorph or illusion magic to conceal their true form at 11th level, and at 18th level can flush a mutagen from their system as a bonus action and immediately gain the benefits of another one in its place a number of times per long rest equal to their Intelligence modifier.

This order has some potential, although will likely be taken by players who seek to optimize their Blood Hunters for a specific kind of role or build. The side effects of the mutagens may make the Order unappealing in comparison to the others who don’t have that kind of cost. The brand’s unique feature is more situational, too given the relatively limited amount of shapeshifting monsters.

Order of the Lycan was originally a supplement, but as of the latest version is now part of the base product. Blood Hunters of this Order study lycanthropes, including injecting their bodies with an altered form of the disease to enhance their combat prowess. This is perhaps the most straightforward of the three options in that it’s a PC-friendly way of being a werewolf. At 3rd level the Blood Hunter gains advantage on vision and scent-based Perception checks, and can transform into a hybrid form 1/short rest up to one hour but can be ended as a bonus action. This alternate form grants resistance vs nonmagical non-silver weapons, +1 to +3 bonus to melee damage rolls, and better unarmed damage. But they suffer from Bloodlust, which is the potential to attack their own allies on a failed Wisdom save if they’re under 50% hit points and no enemies are nearby! Even worse, this save is automatically failed if the Blood Hunter ever suffers from an effect that would make them lose focus on a concentration spell or ability.

At 7th level they add 10 feet to their base speed and add +1 to +3 on unarmed attack rolls, and said attacks are treated as magical when undergoing a Crimson Rite. At 11th level they gain more uses of their wereform, and can regenerate hit points every round when between 1 hit point and under 50% of their total. At 15th level they gain advantage on attacks vs branded creatures and on Wisdom saving throws to avoid friendly firing allies. At 18th level they can transform an unlimited amount of times and can last indefinitely in said form in addition to gaining Blood Curse of the Howl.

This is my least favorite Order. The others had a nice mixture of combat and utility features, but the Order of the Lycan is geared almost entirely to combat save for their Perception advantage. Furthermore, the chance of attacking one’s own allies forces the rest of the players to build their characters a certain way to avoid accidental team-killing. It is very reminiscent of the Frenzied Berserker from 3rd Edition. For those unfamiliar with said system, the Berserker was similar in that it had Frenzy, a super-barbarian rage equivalent, but had the chance of attacking their own allies. As the Frenzy can be triggered by a wide variety of things involuntarily, it was common for gaming groups to have a PC spellcaster act as a handler where they’d plop an enchantment spell to put them out of the frenzy. Conversely, an enemy spellcaster could do the very same thing to trigger it, so it was always a double-edged sword.

Existing Class Comparisons: When it comes to monster hunter themes, a comparison with the Ranger is inevitable. Additionally, one particular Order also makes one think of the Warlock. Beyond these two classes, comparisons get murkier.

First off, the basic Player’s Handbook Ranger sucks donkey dongs; it’s widely acknowledged as the weakest class in 5th Edition, and a huge portion of the fanbase prefers to play with the Revised version in Unearthed Arcana which is what we’ll use as a measuring stick. First off, the Blood Hunter is more likely than the Ranger to know things in general: having the various “knowledge” skills along with Intelligence as one of their primary ability scores, combined with advantage on said rolls for monsters and phenomena, does quite a bit to help. The Blood Hunter doesn’t get bonus languages, a static damage bonus vs favored enemies, or automatically does things good in the wilderness, but their ability to call upon various alternative energy types and compass-like Brand means that when it comes to hunting monsters they are unparalleled.

One mark against the Blood Hunter is that they typically deal with foes of a more supernatural nature, while the Ranger has a wider variety of favored enemy choices and can communicate with mundane animals. Rangers are also better at stealth by default, barring access to the Blood Hunter’s warlock spells: hello invisibility!

Another point in the Ranger’s favor is that they have spellcasting capability by default, and the spells they do get vary in utility and can include a few ‘team player’ options both in and out of combat. The Blood Hunter is rather lacking in features which can directly aid their fellow party members barring some Blood Maledictions, as most of their abilities involve enhancing their own prowess or reducing that of their foes.

When it comes to the Warlock, a Blood Hunter belonging to the Order of the Profane Soul has less of everything in the magical department: they can only get a 4th level slot maximum, and even then at 19th level (1st at 3rd, +1 every 6 levels) and are at a static 2 spell slots for almost the entirety of their class. They can learn up to 3 cantrips and 11 normal spells as opposed to the warlock’s 4 and 15 so they’re a bit under par in the amount of spells that they know. The Blood Hunter’s inability to learn Eldritch Invocations robs them of some more useful at-will features of the base warlock, and their Eldritch Blasts are going to be less powerful should they learn said cantrip.

But how do they compare to the Hexblade Patron, aka the Bladelock? Well, the Blood Hunter already has all of their major weapon/armor proficiencies, but with a higher hit dice to boot. Both classes have a good number of counterattack and debuffing abilities to use, drawing from respective short rest-refreshing sources. But the Blood Hunter has various abilities which draw independently of each other, while most of the Warlock’s arsenal of magic draws upon the same spell slots. Their Crimson Rites and Blood Maledictions are more versatile than the Hexblade’s Curse which is the subclass’ primary debuffer, which is a big point against the Bladelock. Another point is that the Blood Hunter can attack and cast a cantrip in the same round. But a point in the Bladelock’s favor is that they can summon specters to fight alongside them in combat, a feature which the Blood Hunter does not have an equivalent.

Final Thoughts: The Blood Hunter is a pretty fine class, although it’s biggest weakness is that its various effects come at a cost. Even if said abilities are powerful, many players are loath to pick options with a negative effect unless they find some means of minimizing or countering it. I feel that Matt Mercer wanted to get across the double-edged nature of Witchers, but in 5th Edition mechanics the closest equivalent we have to this is the Berserker Barbarian who suffers a level of Exhaustion after every Rage. And guess how popular that subclass is among gamers?

If I were to adopt the Blood Hunter to my games, I think that I would lower the damage of Hemocraft to a 1d2 or maybe a 1d3 at 1st and 2nd level, and likely redesign the Order of the Lycan to have broader out of combat use while also getting rid of that stupid friendly fire Bloodlust.

Join us next time as we gotta catch ‘em all with the Caretaker Warlock!

[Libertad]

The Baby Monster Dilemma, or more specifically the Baby Orc/Kobold Dilemma, is one of the most poorly-implemented concepts in D&D. Although ostensibly done to query nature vs nurture and to what extent evil races have free will, I rarely see it implemented save by edgy Dungeon Masters. The Baby Bestiary series more or less sought to find a non-edgy answer to this question while also tugging on the Charismatic Megafauna concept to state that no, killing babies is wrong. Even monster babies, and instead PCs who happen to find said monsters parentless by their own hand or others should help ensure they are brought to safety. Game stats were made for child versions of various iconic monsters, and rules for raising them and having them as companions on the PC side resulted in a very successful series of KickStarters for the publisher.

The Caretaker Warlock is a spin-off product, in that it’s a subclass where the patron is not some otherworldly distant entity but an egg or hatchling of a powerful and majestic monster breed. The Caretaker receives their spells and abilities from their patron, and in turn the patron is cared for by the warlock until it grows into its own.

In most cases a warlock patron gives alternate class features at 1st, 6th, 10th, and 14th level, but the Caretaker also gets several new and reflavored invocations, an alternate 20th level capstone ability, and specific rules for how to handle the patron in play that the sourcebook effectively reprints the entire class. This feels like a bit of unnecessary padding in my opinion.

The patron can be either a phoenix, couatl, dragon, or dragon turtle. There’s a brief description of mechanical differences between an egg and a hatchling, where the egg is hardy (AC 18, 24 HP) and can have its HP restored via healing magic and/or over time in an optimal environment. The book says that when said egg hatches is up to GM Fiat, although several of the class features in this book lean towards having a hatchling eventually. For the hatchling, it’s mentioned that they are noncombatants but are pointed towards the Baby Bestiary 5e Companion if we must have stats. Otherwise we get 2 options of either any damage to the patron suffers being transferred to the warlock (no double damage on AoE attacks) or to treat them separately where the hatchling is Tiny or Small but has the same AC and health as an egg. Albeit in this case, the warlock loses all of their supernatural class features if the patron falls to 0 hit points; said result causes unconsciousness rather than death.

Caretaker Warlocks as a subclass replace Deception and Intimidation with Handle Animal and Insight, and their various creepy-sounding invocations and Pacts are renamed to be more generic or lofty-sounding: Minions of Chaos becomes Elemental Ally, Fiendish Vigor becomes Bolster Vitality, etc. Pacts, meanwhile, become Entrusted Boons, and we get two new Pacts/Boons: Entrusted Awareness grants the warlock Darkvision and their Charisma bonus to Perception when within 60 feet of their patron, and Entrusted Shield summons a magical shield to their hand that grants +2 on Constitution saves vs magical effects in addition to the normal AC bonus of a shield. The 20th level capstone ability, Parting Gift, represents the egg hatching into a great entity or the hatchling finally coming into independence. In this case the warlock gains a permanent Enhance Ability to an ability score of their choice with a bonus effect depending on said score: +25 hit points for Bear’s Endurance, Calm Emotions at will for Eagle’s Splendor, etc. Once per month the warlock can also call upon their patron a la a Cleric’s Divine Intervention but is automatically successful, can only be done once per month, and the patron cannot remain with the party for longer than 48 hours.

We have 21 new Invocations, 3 of which can be taken by the caretaker warlock without any special pacts/patrons, 4 of which are specific to certain Pacts/Boons, and 14 of which are dependent on your patron’s species. I won’t go over them all, but will list the ones I find rather interesting.

Sleepless Guardian allows a free casting of the Alarm spell whenever you take a short/long rest with your patron, and Patron’s Manifestation grants a 1/long casting of Spirit Guardians which take the form of the patron’s species. Aura of Vision, keyed off of the Entrusted Awareness Boon, grants allies Darkvision within 30 feet of the patrion, which is a great means of letting the party go around without light sources when dungeon delving.* Several of the Dragon Turtle-specific Invocations help enhance the bonus Blade Ward cantrip, such as longer duration, reflecting the damage back to the attacker, and casting it as a reaction 1/long rest. The Phoenix-specific ones are a mix of healing and fire damage, such as becoming immune to one’s own Bonfire cantrip and being able to restore a limited amount of hit points when standing in it. The Couatl-specific ones are a bit underwhelming IMO and mostly involve gaining bonus spells as opposed to innovative improvements on existing ones.

*In case your group is not all-dwarf, all-drow.

Afterwards we have a 1d12 and 1d20 table of sample stories of how the warlock came into contact with their patron and sample mishaps representing the creature’s immaturity as a role-play challenge.

Guardians are 4 options detailing each of the patron species types and the patron-specific class features they bestow upon the warlock. They do have some universal features: a supernatural life bond where any damage dealt to the patron is transferred to the warlock, and the patron will die in one month if the warlock dies unless they can find a new warlock to take them on as a patron. At 6th level playtime with the patron during a short or long rest bestows a persistent buff of a defensive nature to the warlock and the participating party members.

Guardian of Rebirth is the phoenix, who grants fire and healing-related bonus spells to the warlock, as well as +1 maximum hit point per warlock level and resistance to fire damage. Its playtime buff grants temporary hit points to ½ the warlock’s level + their Charisma bonus. At 10th level the warlock can manifest burning wings which grant short-term 40 foot flight (1 minute per warlock level) 1/long rest. At 14th level the warlock can 1/short rest burst into radiant flames whenever they’d make a death saving throw, regaining hit points and dealing fire/radiant damage in an AoE effect.

As you can tell, the Guardian of Rebirth is less flashy in that its features are more done in reaction to something than on their own. Oddly enough Cure Wounds aren’t on the list of bonus spells (that’d be the Guardian of Sunset) but it gets the useful Healing Word, Revivify and both types of Restoration spells. Its weakness is that fire is a rather common resistance or immunity among monster types, and the short-term flight may not be so impressive if the PCs have airborne mounts or the 3rd level Flight spell (which has 60 feet and can last up to 10 minutes per casting). But the patron will ensure that the warlock and the party as a whole to be much less likely to suffer death and other maladies long-term.

Guardian of Sunset is the couatl, who grants a mixture of defensive and generic “white magic” bonus spells such as Cure Wounds, Zone of Truth, Calm Emotions, etc. At 1st level the warlock becomes fluent in Celestial, gains resistance to psychic and radiant damage, and for more cosmetic effects white hair and small patches of iridescent scales scattered on their body. Their playtime ability grants a shared telepathic network for the next 4 hours, allowing communication to anyone within 120 feet of each other. At 10th level the warlock and their patron are immune to all scrying attempts and other divination spells related to reading one’s emotions, thoughts, and/or location when said warlock and patron are within 100 of each other. At 14th level the warlock can grant themselves Truesight 60 feet up to 60 feet for 1 hour 1/short rest.

The Guardian of Sunset is sort of the jack-of-all-trades in that its abilities don’t have as much of a unifying theme as the other Guardians. A telepathic hivemind and anti-scrying measures are very useful for stealth and scouting-focused parties, and most of its bonus spells are more situational and as a reaction to common threats.

Deep Scale Guardian is the dragon turtle, who is the more defensively-minded patron, albeit their bonus spells are nature-themed and terrain-shaping options such as Fog Cloud, Spike Growth, Water Breathing, etc. At 1st level the warlock adds their Dexterity and Charisma modifier to their default Armor Class when not wearing any armor, and becomes fluent in their choice of Aquan or Draconic. Their playtime ability grants resistance to the warlock’s choice of bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage for the next 2 hours. At 10th level the warlock can breath an AoE attack of scalding steam breath 1/long rest which can work underwater and deals 5d10 fire damage. At 14th level the warlock never suffers the ravages of aging or magical aging, but can still die of old age. But they also become immune to the first five levels of Exhaustion, and given that the sixth level is instant death they basically never have to worry about the condition for any real length of time.

The Deep Scale Guardian has a pretty useful spell list for battlefield control purposes, and adding one’s primary casting stat to Armor Class is a great choice as well. Resistance to common forms of physical damage is something the party can appreciate, although the 14th level anti-aging ability is a bit mum given the rarity of such effects. Overall this is the most attractive patron for a general-concept Caretaker Warlock.

Guardian of the Dragon’s patron is self-explanatory. The fluff text interestingly notes that in their implied setting true dragons are never born good or evil, that their alignment being an unchangeable facet is but a common myth:

All chromatic dragons are evil. All metallic dragons are good. These universal truths held by the common folk are without a doubt, untenably wrong. These majestic, intelligent creatures feel powerful emotions and think in alien ways that mortals have trouble understanding, but they are not born good or evil. A red dragon’s heart is full of fiery passion, a silver dragon’s need to protect can become toxic, and a white dragon’s simplicity can enjoy the small moments of life.

The dragon’s bonus spells are mostly elemental-themed with some utility: Chromatic Orb, Protection From Energy, See Invisibility, Legend Lore, etc. At 1st level the warlock gains a pair of claw attacks with which they’re proficient and use their Charisma to determine their attack and damage* along with fluency in Draconic and proficiency in either Intimidation or Persuasion. Their 6th level playtime ability grants advantage on saving throws vs the frightened condition for the next 4 hours. At 10th level the warlock gains blindsight out to 60 feet and smells like that of a dragon to creatures with a strong sense of smell; I imagine that said warlock causes animals to panic whenever they enter a farm or settlement. At 14th level the warlock can 1/long rest utter an AoE authoritative command which can cause a number of targets equal to their warlock level to follow any non-suicidal command for the next 2 hours on a failed Charisma save.

*said claws are treated as pact weapons if taking Pact of the Blade/Entrusted Blade.

Guardian of the Dragon has some rather situational class features: claw attacks are more useful to bladelock types, and an Eldritch Blast cantrip is still more useful and can make multiple attacks on top of that. 60 foot Blindsight is a pretty nice touch, and the bonus spells are widely useful for both general-purpose and blasty builds. The 14th level AoE may not seem as impressive at the level it’s gained given that it’s replicating a much lower-level spell, but is quite useful when fighting large groups of enemies.

Existing Class Comparisons: As a technical subclass, it’d be more pertinent to compare the Caretaker Warlock to other Patron options. The Caretaker Warlock is more of a team player as its 6th level features are meant to be shared among the party, and half of its patrons have bonus spells which make the warlock more of a beneficial caster. The Phoenix has quite a bit of overlap with the Celestial patron, such as granting the party temporary hit points during a long rest, fire and healing-focused bonus spells, and even a very similar 14th level feature in a short burst AoE and self-healing on a death saving throw. The Phoenix is better in regards to self-healing and resilience on the warlock’s part, but the Celestial with its bonus healing dice is better at being a party healer.

In regards to the other 3 Guardians, the PHB and Xanather patrons don’t have any closer comparisons. The Archfey is very enchantment-focused, the Fiend with more direct offense. The Great Old One has some similarities to the Couatl with telepathy and anti-divination means, although the Couatl’s abilities are more broadly-focused. The GOO’s 14th level ability to make a charmed thrall is similar to the Dragon’s 14th level authoritative command, save that the GOO is more limited in several ways but of an indefinite duration and telepathic link. Both abilities have their uses but in very different situations.

The Dragon’s claw attacks point to a melee-friendly option, which brings to mind the Hexblade. But a pair of fancy claws cannot really compete with the explicitly-martial patron, who gets better weapon and armor proficiencies, a nifty single-target curse which can grant increased damage and critical hit chances, and whose Pact of the Blade can be transferred to touched weapons as part of the Hex Warrior feature. The Dragon is better in that its bonus spells have more ranged offensive options, while the Hexblade’s are more of a self-buffing nature.

Final Thoughts: The Caretaker Warlock is an interesting concept, and can make a better choice in a more light-hearted game than the class’ basic “dark mage” feel. The sourcebook is good at turning the Warlock into a better team player in various ways, and the new Guardian patrons have worthy choices for the most part. I feel that the Phoenix borrowed too liberally from the Celestial, and the Couatl’s core features and invocations are a bit too broad yet situational to be appealing in comparison to the others. While the patrons are meant to be noncombatants, I cannot help but feel that shilling for another product is rather unnecessary given that there’s really only 4 choices which shouldn’t take much room page-wise to make stat blocks.

Join us next time as we look at another one of Robert Schwalb’s 4th Edition conversions, the Warden!

[Libertad]

After the phenomenal success of his Warlord conversion, Robert Schwalb tried his hand at bringing another class to 5th Edition. This time he picked a lesser-known one, the Warden. Comparatively speaking this product did not get as many sales: as of this review Warlord is a Platinum seller on Drive-Thru RPG, while the Warden a mere Silver. The other products I reviewed for this series have been Platinum with one exception* so they’re all quite popular which got my attention in the first place. As for why I’m reviewing Warden, I was impressed by Schwalb’s Warlord enough to see how he handles this one.

*In the Company of Dragons being a Gold.

The Warden is a defender of nature, striking without mercy against those who would threaten it. They channel the powers of elements, spirits, and other primordial entities as part of their vigil and...wait a second, how is this any different than a Druid or Ranger? In terms of fluff, nothing really, but the true differences lie in the mechanics.

The Warden is something of a tanky Ranger: 1d10 Hit Die, is proficient in Constitution and Charisma saves, all weapons and armor save for heavy armor (but like druids they cannot use metal armor or shields), and choose two skills part of a nature-themed set: Animal Handling, Nature, and Survival are the expected three plus Athletics, Intimidation, Medicine, and Perception, and Religion. At 1st level they gain Defender’s Ward, a self-centered aura of 10 to 30 foot radius (level-based) which as a reaction 1/short rest can impose a d6 penalty to the attack roll of any enemy’s successful hit on someone within the radius. The Warden can spend a bonus action to draw life from the very ground, regaining hit points and turning nearby ground into difficult terrain, which is also 1/short rest. At 2nd and 5th level they gain the Fighting Style and Extra Attacks common to martial classes.

Wardens gain and cast spell slots like a ranger, capable of casting up to 5th-level spells which they can also burn as a reaction to reduce incoming damage by 1d6 + 1d6 per spell slot level, and at 11th level also deal 2d8 bonus damage on melee attacks until the end of their next turn when blocking incoming damage in such a way. At 3rd level they are able to reroll the result of a failed saving throw once per turn for ongoing harmful effects, which is unlimited in use and as such is a highly useful ability. At 6th level the Warden gains advantage on all opportunity attacks, adding 1d12 bonus damage if they already have said advantage, and at 14th level opponents trigger opportunity attacks whenever they attack targets besides the Warden. At 14th level the Warden regains hit points whenever they roll a natural 20 on a death saving throw, and 1/short rest can treat a result of 17-19 as a natural 20 on said rolls. Finally, their 20th level capstone ability lets them automatically heal 1d12 hit points per round whenever they’re between 1 hit point and 50% of their total.

As you can tell, the Warden is designed to be very hard to put down, and whose abilities impose penalties when nearby foes who ignore them in combat.

Aspects of Nature are the Warden’s subclasses, granting bonus spells at 3rd, 5th, and every 4 levels thereafter, and special features at 3rd, 7th, 15th, and 18th level. We have 3 Aspects to choose from: Elemental Storm, Primal Beast, and Sacred Trees represent an affinity for nature’s various domains of influence.

Elemental Storm grants energy-based bonus spells, usually of an AoE nature along with summoning elementals. At 3rd level the warden can take the form of a miniature storm 1/short rest with various defensive features: various energy resistances, disadvantage to ranged attack rolls against you, and automatic lightning damage counterattack vs metal weapons and creatures. At 7th level spell slots can be expended to create thrown lightning bolts with scaling damage. At 15th level creatures who miss a target within your Defender’s Ward take bonus lightning damage, and at 18th level the miniature storm form creates a radius of difficult terrain in all areas through which you pass.

Primal Beast grants bonus spells centered around animals and self-improvement at physical activities (Expeditious Retreat, Nondetection, Insect Plague, etc). At 3rd level the Warden can transform their upper body into that of an animal 1/short rest, granting them various effects such as darkvision, higher unarmed damage, +10 feet speed, and advantage on scent-based perception checks along with avoiding opportunity attacks from movement provided that they first hit a target in melee. At 7th level they gain an additional feature in said form where they can knock a target prone when moving and attacking in melee, and gaining a bonus attack on an already-prone target. At 15th level the Warden grants an ally advantage on attack rolls vs enemies which missed them due to Defender’s Ward. At 18th level their beastform gains +10 hit points, advantage on all senses for Perception, and +30 foot speed instead of +10.

Sacred Trees grants plant-themed bonus spells which tend to be utility but several are capable of limiting an enemy’s mobility (Entangle, Grasping Vine, Hold Monster). At 3rd level the Warden can take the form of a holy tree 1/short rest, gaining +2 AC, can effortlessly move through nonmagical difficult terrain, can cause a 10 foot radius centered on them to become difficult terrain from rapid overgrowth, and can automatically ignore any unwanted movement provided they remain in touch with the ground. At 7th level they gain an additional ability in tree form, where they can restrain a target within 15 feet in contact with the ground via binding roots and vines. At 15th level they can increase the radius of their Defender’s Ward and treat the squares in said radius as difficult terrain.* Finally, at 18th level their tree form gains a total +4 AC, advantage on Constitution saves, +10 foot reach on all melee attacks, and creatures in difficult terrain from their class features cannot Disengage from combat.

*as it’s either all or nothing, this is rather limiting in that it will affect allies.

New Spells

This section details 10 new spells for not just the Warden, but also the Druid, Ranger, and Sorcerer. Additionally, we get a complete list of the Warden’s spell list which happens to include all 10! The Warden shares a lot of spells with the Ranger, but it gives up some utility spells (Fog Cloud, Locate Object, etc) in exchange for more combat-worthy options (Barkskin, Enlarge/Reduce, etc). What utility spells the Warden gains that the Ranger does not are in fitting with its martial nature, such as Dispel Magic, Polymorph, and Greater Restoration. Now moving on to new spells...

Anathema imposes a curse which causes a target to spend extra movement when moving on natural terrain, is vulnerable to several elemental energy types (or lose existing resistance), and creatures of the beast and plant type have advantage on attack rolls. To top it all off, there’s also bonus poison damage each round on a failed Constitution save! Bombardment throws up to three pebbles into the air, which turn into boulders that can damage and restrain creatures they hit. Call of the Wild summons a group of spectral animals to damage, trip, and drag up to five targets towards the caster. Close the Gap drags a target 30 feet closer to the caster, granting them advantage on the next attack roll made against the affected target. Cloud of Thorns causes the caster to grow protective thorns which automatically hit targets attacking them in melee should they fail a Dexterity save, and also forces the afflicted to make attack rolls with disadvantage. Dome of Brambles conjures a 30 foot radius lattice-like net which can damage and hinder movement on targets trapped inside it. Mountain Might makes the  caster strong and sturdy while in contact with the ground, making them heavier and slower but their melee attacks deal 2d8 bonus damage, they gain resistance vs piercing and slashing damage, and reduce unwanted movement by half. Nature’s Wrath targets up to five creatures; those who fail a Charisma save suffer disadvantage on attack rolls made against targets other than the caster for the spell’s duration, and the caster can spend a reaction to attack such creatures whenever they’re ignored in this way. Unruly Earth creates a 30 foot cone tremor which damages targets, knocks them prone, and knocks any held objects out of their hands. Upheaval causes an underground explosion in a 60 foot radius centered on the caster, damaging, knocking prone, and blinding creatures who fail a Dexterity save within the radius while also turning the affected ground into difficult terrain.

While the Warden gets the lion’s share, the other classes can learn around 2 to 4 of them depending on the class in question. Close the Gap, Crown of Thorns, Mountain Might, and Nature’s Wrath can all be cast as bonus actions, which lines up nicely with making a follow-up attack in the same combat round. Although many of the spells are damaging, they also impose various conditions upon foes which makes for some nice tactical variety.

Existing Class Comparisons The most immediate classes which jump to mind are the Oath of Ancients Paladin and the Ranger. Like I did with the Blood Hunter, I’m going to be comparing the Warden to the Unearthed Arcana Revised Ranger.

First off, the Paladin is an overall better healer thanks to Lay on Hands. The Warden has some nice healing spells, but none of its class features add to or enhance said restoration resources. The Warden has some nice means of enhancing their melee damage such as Mountain Might, but the Paladin has a greater total damage potential thanks to Divine Smite. In terms of protecting other allies the Oath of Ancients Paladin has broader defenses against magic (Aura of Protection, Ancients’ Aura of Warding, Cleansing Touch), while the Warden is better in direct battlefield control both in affecting enemy movement and in making bad things happen to their foes when they choose to strike the Warden’s allies instead.

In regards to the Revised Ranger, said class is better than the Warden at ranged combat, general utility magic, and stealth, things at which the Warden is not built to excel so there’s little overlap. However, the Revised Ranger does not get Extra Attack unless they’re part of the Hunter Conclave, and in terms of staying power and battlefield control the Warden is the clear superior.

The Druid is still magically superior, and the Circle of the Moon beats the Warden out in sheer offense and personal defense. But even so the Warden can still be a distinctive choice, as unlike the Moon Druid it is better able to protect the entire party.

Final Thoughts: I like the Warden’s mechanics, although I do have some concerns with a few of them. The ability to attempt new saving throws vs persistent effects every round means that in terms of long-term debilitating conditions it’s a manner of when, not if the Warden will break free. This is really only a concern when said effects have a save but aren’t the kind that will kill you during the source of a normal combat, like long-term enchantment. Although given said malady is quite situational, this is not a large concern. Furthermore, many of the Warden’s features create difficult terrain without the ability to self-select who is hindered. Deployed smartly it can prevent enemies from getting past the Warden to the rest of the party but can also hinder the mobility of other allies, particularly those prone to entering melee.

While an interesting class, it doesn’t have the clear distinction and appeal that the Warlord does, and doesn’t have enough fluff-wise to make one ask how to distinguish it from the other nature-themed classes. While it has many good options in terms of ‘drawing aggro,’ Dungeons & Dragons as both a subculture and as a system isn’t very fond of ‘tanking’ as a game mechanic. These aren’t knocks against the class itself so much as the fact that its design is not one that I can see being popular among players, which is a shame.

This is going to be my final class sourcebook review for the time being. I’m feeling in the mood for a change of pace after reviewing seven of them. Something more...hardcore.

Join us next time as we review 5e: HARDCORE MODE!