3 new Unearthed Arcana Subclasses

[bruceleeroy]

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/three-subclasses

Well, I didn't come up with a witty title, but a wizard tradition that allows you to cast a 5th level spell from a 4th level slot should make up for it, right?

[Wilb]

Damnit, in february I won't let it slip like this 

EDIT:

Gnome Wizards are basically Lore Wizards + Wild Mages now.

Is it me or Brute 12 / Spores 8 with a rapier or Shillelagh Qstaff is kinda OP? 3 attacks, possibly P. Master bonus attack & reaction 12 poison damage.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Brute ... nice look at updating Champion , could tie the 7 ability to the +proficiency dX scale , as is it's weaker than the Pal 6 aura , but still useful.

Spores ...
2 Halo in isolation is OK-ish, you probably want some other Reaction
2 Symbiotic Entity makes Halo > Hellish Rebuke , temp HP < Moon wildshape , + poison damage is most resisted , I suppose a dumpster dive could line-by-line the relative value to Moon forms
6 can only attack not move , which is nearly useless , and Animate Dead is right there , ability needs work
10 more useful than Halo without SE , plan tactics with Thorn Whip or Lock EB push or lock-down frontliner
14 prelude to the various 3.5e Prestige classes that change type

 
Invention = big pile o' fun
2 don't pick those spells known , make a scroll of each , write scroll into spellbook = way waayyy more spells known than normal , especially 3rd levels and higher.  Love it.
6 no need to dip Paladin anymore, everybody hates roleplaying the tortured demigod I win the game but my code of conduct makes me feel guilty in weird ways , Oh Thor ?!
10 slippery slope into 3.5e Erudite Spell to Power (same way Archeron Gehenna (oops) is a longer and steeper slippery slope , but Arcanaloths like to tempt folks with that sort of powah)
14 this is actually very tricky , you'd want to lead with one of these EVERY encounter , and then adapt around the random initial conditions , doubtful this gets used (high c.o.) more often than the first round , and maybe Not used in the later part of the day , cause Wiz has more than enough oomph , to risk a nearly wasted action to start a combat

verdict : Don't take away my SUNSHINE


edits

[Wilb]

Brute ... nice look at updating Champion , could tie the 7 ability to the +proficiency dX scale , as is it's weaker than the Pal 6 aura , but still useful.

Spores ...
2 Halo in isolation is OK-ish, you probably want some other Reaction
2 Symbiotic Entity makes Halo > Hellish Rebuke , temp HP < Moon wildshape , + poison damage is most resisted , I suppose a dumpster dive could line-by-line the relative value to Moon forms
6 can only attack not move , which is nearly useless , and Animate Dead is right there , ability needs work
10 more useful than Halo without SE , plan tactics with Thorn Whip or Lock EB push or lock-down frontliner
14 prelude to the various 3.5e Prestige classes that change type

 
Invention = big pile o' fun
2 don't pick those spells known , make a scroll of each , write scroll into spellbook = way waayyy more spells known than normal , especially 3rd levels and higher.  Love it.
6 no need to dip Paladin anymore, everybody hates roleplaying the tortured demigod I win the game but my code of conduct makes me feel guilty in weird ways , Oh Thor ?!
10 slippery slope into 3.5e Erudite Spell to Power (same way Archeron is a longer and steeper slippery slope , but Arcanaloths like temp folks with that sort of powah)
14 this is actually very tricky , you'd want to lead with one of these EVERY encounter , and then adapt around the random initial conditions , doubtful this gets used (high c.o.) more often than the first round , and maybe Not used in the later part of the day , cause Wiz has more than enough oomph , to risk a nearly wasted action to start a combat
Don't take away my SUNSHINE

Golem, your kitty told me that in 5e moving is not an action...

[awaken_D_M_golem]

I presume Funny , but it's my turn to be confused    (Morpheus says how is this different from any other day).

[Skyrock]

With the Brute, is there any reason to pick Champion Fighter anymore? Not that I would cry if it were to be replaced - Champion was definitively hanging behind the other martial archetypes, and Brute still looks simple enough to be accessible to new and casual players.

Spores ...
[...]
6 can only attack not move , which is nearly useless , and Animate Dead is right there , ability needs work

I think the intention is that the zombies can only use their capital-A Action to attack, not to help or any of the other options characters normally have. Movement is separate from capital-A Actions.

The zombies are still not very useful, as they have only 1hp. At that level they drop dead if anyone so much as sneezes at them.

[Wilb]

With the Brute, is there any reason to pick Champion Fighter anymore? Not that I would cry if it were to be replaced - Champion was definitively hanging behind the other martial archetypes, and Brute still looks simple enough to be accessible to new and casual players.

Spores ...
[...]
6 can only attack not move , which is nearly useless , and Animate Dead is right there , ability needs work

I think the intention is that the zombies can only use their capital-A Action to attack, not to help or any of the other options characters normally have. Movement is separate from capital-A Actions.

The zombies are still not very useful, as they have only 1hp. At that level they drop dead if anyone so much as sneezes at them.

For the Champion, it may be ok in an Elf build, with the extra advantage die and some outside source of extra damage dice, like a magic weapon or Hex through a feat.

The zombies are an afterthought, but can be navigated quite nicely, considering that they don't take an action to animate or command. Locking some mooks and killing them with Symbiotic Entity + Spreading Spores can both clean them and animate a few baloon zombies. Scatter them and the enemy must waste a turn to deal with these.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Skyrock - uh right my bad, that makes way more sense.
Zombie Action can't be all those other choices, just attack.
That's manageable even (most especially) by noobs.

Basically some bonus damage, until they lose an action.
Not quite Hex , not quite Slow , decent flavor.


Secondarily ... who was calling for plant spore poison Druids?
I get if it's something like Z Nation shtick awesome fluff version
of planty-plant druid for manly-man ain't playing with flowers dude.
 

[Skyrock]

Someone has pointed out to me that Dragon Mag used to run a comic series, Mount Zogon, that might have been the inspiration for the spore druid: https://web.archive.org/web/20070119175300/http://www.zogonia.com:80/mtzogonarchive/galeena01.html

Mount Zogon is the sister comic to Zogonia, published in Dungeon Magazine. Set in the same campaign world as Zogonia (which is called Zogonia), it is a following of the life of Galeena, a female druid who lives in a dungeon carved into Zogonia's highest mountain; Mount Zogon.

Galeena is quite unusual; she is eccentric, perhaps even insane, and is quite possibly of evil alignment. She graduated with considerable haste (ie was kicked out of Druid College) after poisoning a fellow druid; Barry Firfoot. She has a strange affiliation with mushrooms and fungi; she lives in a cavern filled with slimes, jellies, oozes and moulds and, instead of an animal companion, has a sentient talking mushroom (who is really the brains of the pair) named Mushroom.

She is an expert with the spear and somewhat psychotic; she considers pixies to be annoying insects and stabbed one to death on her way to Mount Zogon after it heard her complaining about the abundance of pixies in the woods. She became so paranoid about the way the local Kobolds started worshipping her she almost decided to wipe them out (or may have actually done so). She has had a serious debate with Mushroom about whether or not her consuming sentient creatures such as Dwarves and Kobolds can actually be considered cannibalism (she reassured Mushroom that she would never eat it- but then finished by saying that it's poisonous).

She once dissolved an attacking Ghoul with a jet of Green Slime from her mouth, so she may be developing slime-based attack modes due to her association with such creatures (either that, or she really needed to get rid of the stew she had been eating). Her resistance to the effects of the various slimes and oozes she lives with have led her to finding a variety of unusual uses for them (such as using a jelly for a vibrating armchair, or bathing in a Slime Mould).

[SorO_Lost]

Skimmed it, Champion buff, Wizard gets a new 4th level Slot becomes a 5th with a 10% chance to become two 5ths (can't imagine that making it out of UA), and the new Spore Druid gives +1d6 to all melee damage buff for a two level dip.

Hmm... Brute 14 / Hexblade 2-3 / Spore 2 / ?. Not 100% sure where I'm going with this, lots of dice with Prof/Cha-to-damage I suppose. Good thing the Fighter has extra ASIs.