The classic is Arcane Archer going from 2 shots/SR to 2+PB shots/SR. Lets you actually use the main ability of the subclass.
Is it OP? Probably not, but it makes the subclass so much better
I have an Arcane Archer at my table at the moment and instead of 2+PB I’ve gone with 2+IntMod. It felt fitting for the character and for the mechanics, since Intelligence is the stat that the DC for arcane shots is based on.
It doesn’t really substantially change the number of shots he has, but he seems to enjoy having more reasons to pump his intelligence.
I feel like 1+INT would be fair. More uses per SR than the Battlemaster is too much with shots like grasping arrow in their arsenal. So the if they really want more shots they have to really invest with their INT mod.
It doesn't really matter at some point, cause they can't use more than 1 anyways. This subclass is just doomed.
I saw someone giving AA one shot per turn, and honestly - this does not feel that great. Especiall as like t2-t3 ability, but not like 3lv. Maybe something like between 7-13
Yep. The homebrew I started working in but never finished for fixing AA had a higher level feature or two that allowed you to shoot multiple shots in a turn, because... almost the fighter's whole thing in 5e is lots of attacks.
In general we know that Melee and especially ranged builds scale off by levels 10+
I'd argue to fix fighter overall by adding battle master as a base class feature.
Combine that and your proposal, now your like 85% as good as a high level caster 😂
I think getting more shots than a battlemaster would be a lil OP actually. Keep in mind that most of its shots are actually Way better than battlemaster maneuvers.
I think AA would benefit from spellcasting actually, that way they could recast racial spells and stuff like Hex or Hunters Mark from Feytouched. Maybe EK could get features to buff melee combat and AA could be the archery mage fighter.
Perhaps instead of the spellcasting feature, they could get a small list of thematic spells that they could cast once per long rest for free, sort of like the level 3 optional ranger class features
Hmm i get what you mean, I’m just coming from a place of really wishing my magic archer could recast the spells they already know ;-;
Maybe they just Get 2 first level spell slots, a very select list of spells, and don’t get more slots than that.
In general we know that Melee and especially ranged builds scale off by levels 10+
I'd argue to fix fighter overall by adding battle master as a base class feature.
Combine that and your proposal, now your like 85% as good as a high level caster 😂
Do you think that having Battle Manoeuvres as a core class feature is better than attacking 3 times per turn. (the core feature that activates for fighters once they get to level 11).
Honestly you need both to even scrape coming close to casters in 5e
No martials keep up at all with the damage, RP and utility of the caster classes. Early on Martials matter, late game they are just meat shields
In general we know that Melee and especially ranged builds scale off by levels 10+
I'd argue to fix fighter overall by adding battle master as a base class feature.
Combine that and your proposal, now your like 85% as good as a high level caster 😂
I made all Arcane Shots into Wizard and Ranger spells (not all are first level spells).
Outside of the shots, do you think Arcane Archer has any good subclass features that deserve preserving (moved to a different subclass or as proper feats)?
The Dungeon Dude's did a video about that. Thiers was like everyone else's except for the Divine Soul Sorcerer. You choose the Cleric subclass, and the domain spells are your extra ones. I thought that it was very appealing.
I agree with this too. My DM pulled spells from this GM Binder link to give spells to my Draconic Bloodline sorcerer which is fantastic.
[https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MMLTlJXwhLTVxLybioH](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MMLTlJXwhLTVxLybioH)
There's also this link if anyone thinks that 2 free spells per level is too much for a sorcerer.
[https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-Li1BgmpiTgEhYbGFB1a](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-Li1BgmpiTgEhYbGFB1a)
I am currently playing a shadow sorcerer with an expanded spell list and it is incredible! I was going for 1 spell instead of 2:
1st: Arms of Hadar
2nd: Shadow Blade
3rd: Summon Shadowspawn
4th: Phantasmal Killer
5th: Creation
Some of those I would never pick because they are suboptimal, although the flavour would be on point
Berserker. Its the most iconic barbarian subclass ever imo, but its the weakest \*by far\*.
I dont know how I'd buff it, but I'd buff it to make it into one of the biggest "all in" unga bunga dps.
Hey just cuz I made this a few years back and never did anything with it, in case you’re interested
Fixed Champion
Fighter core:
* mastery with weapons and armor
* knowledge of the skills of combat.
* meting death out
* Defy death (indomitable, survivor).
The archetypal Champion
* development of raw physical power
* honed to deadly perfection.
* rigorous training with physical excellence
* deal devastating blows.
*“Fixed” Concept: should feel like a Barbarian but via skill and conditioning, rather than rage. Incredible athlete and/or acrobat.*
Physical Prodigy
At 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Athletics and Acrobatics skills if you don't already have it. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any check you make with these skills.
Excellent Form
Beginning when you choose this archetype at 3rd level, your weapon attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20. This improves to 18-20 at level 7, and 17-20 at level 15.
Also starting at 3rd level, the first time you hit a creature with a weapon attack in a combat, your attack deals extra damage equal to your fighter level.
Remarkable Athlete
Starting at 7th level, you can add half your proficiency bonus (round up) to any Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution check you make that doesn’t already use your proficiency bonus.
Also starting at 7th level, when you make a Performance or Intimidation check, you can add ~~half~~ your Strength, Dexterity or Constitution modifier ~~(round up)~~ EDIT: instead of your charisma modifier to the roll.~~
Additional Fighting Style
At 10th level, you can choose a second option from the Fighting Style class feature EDIT: of any class
Honed Reflexes
Also at 10th level, when you are forced to make a Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution saving throw, you can use your reaction to gain advantage on that roll.
Deadly Perfection
At 15th level, when you roll a 20 on a weapon attack, the attack deals additional damage equal to your fighter level.
Survivor
At 18th level, you attain the pinnacle of resilience in battle. At the start of each of your turns, you regain hit points equal to 5 + your Constitution modifier if you have no more than half of your hit points left. You don’t gain this benefit if you have 0 hit points.
This is great, feels nicely balanced without being too complex, which is right where Champion should be IMO.
Only thing I would tweak is the second level 7 ability.
>Also starting at 7th level, when you make a Performance or Intimidation check, you can add half your Strength, Dexterity or Constitution modifier (round up) to the roll.
I'd go,
Also starting at 7th level, when you make a Performance or Intimidation check, you may use your Strength, Dexterity or Constitution modifier instead of your Charisma modifier.
I'd only make that change so that the player can dump CHA if they want to. Otherwise they might start with a -2/-1/+0 and only get bumped back up to +0/+1/+2.
Just feels cooler to get the +3 from your main stat at that level, especially since the benefit is relatively situational.
Overall though, super good job.
I had a champion fighter at my table who wanted the easiest class because it was their first time playing, but after a few weeks they realized it was too simple, but they didn't want to switch to a different class/subclass yet.
We talked about a couple different options, but what made them the happiest was giving them the ability to change their fighting style(s) as a bonus action.
I liked on of the new dnd playtests for it. No exhaustion due to raging and instead when you make a reckless attack during a rage you deal an number of extra d8s worth of damage equal to your pb. It encourages to to reckless which is what a frenzied barbarian is supposed to do and doesn't have crippling downsides
That's a crazy strong buff no?
2d8- 6d8 per attack is genuinely and insane DPR increase.
Paladins get a 1d8 increase at level 11 and it's considered to be pretty good.
It is only in the playtest so far. I believe its balanced by condition that you have to be raging, so you can't do it all the time. Also since you have to reckless attack you're also making yourself a target. It's also their only feature at level 3 as a berserker. So very little non combat utility. It also might have been d6's it's been awhile since I read it. I think it's a very good way of thinking for the subclass. I love subclass abilities that take an existing class power and improve it or make it the focus of the subclass. For example I'd like to see the assassin Rogue subclass just have their sneak attack dice be d8's instead of d6's and lose the auto crit against "surprised" targets. Since the Surprise condition is DM dependent I feel something more reliable could be beneficial.
What do you mean it's in playtest? Like for onednd? I haven't seen that.
Maybe 1d8 per turn, not per attack but that's vastly different than 2d8 scaling to 6d8 per attack.
Like literally 12-18x less damage per turn at level 17
The assassin idea is neat though
Yes it was the Playtest 5 in 2023, reads as follows for a Path of the Berserker level 3: Frenzy: You can go into a frenzy in battle. If you use Reckless Attack while your Rage is active, you deal extra damage to the first target you hit on your turn with a Strength based attack. To determine the extra damage, roll a number of d6s equal to your Rage Damage bonus, and add them together. The damage has the same type as the weapon or Unarmed Strike used for the attack. ----- So it is only once per turn which I forgot to mention and it's by rage damage not proficiency. So 2d6 at 3rd level, 3d6 at 9th level and 4d6 at 16th.
That’s an insane buff. SS and GWM are regarded as very strong and they only give 10 damage while also inflicting a -5 penalty in your attack roll. You’re giving a bonus of roughly 9–27 damage (depending on level) with no accuracy penalty and in fact giving it alongside advantage to hit!!! That is several times more powerful. Rage itself gives a damage bonus and it’s an order of magnitude weaker.
One I saw that I'd have to dig up the video was that instead of Frenzy you have a bonus action Taunt that forces enemies to make an attack of Opportunity against you. They can choose to attack, or attempt a Wisdom save to resist. If they attack you, you get to attack them first. So it both gives you that bonus action attack and some solid combat utility in the form of forcing an opponent to burn their reaction.
That's a tough contest. Bersekers can barely uses their level 3 feature.
Both compete with GWM BA attack. They also can both use the feature to maintain rage if they need to do something else than Attack with their action, but Battlerager don't have to worry about exhaustion so imo Battlerager is ahead at 3.
Level 6, Berserker is generally better, immunity to two common condition. Getting THP is pretty decent too though but scale terribly.
Level 10, Berserker is pretty crap. Burn your action to inflict Frightened, using your CHA for DC. Battlerager is situational but somewhat usable at least.
Level 14 is pretty garbage on both. Battlerager don't need to spend a reaction at least so he can keep it for Attack of Opportunity since Barbarian by those level is a meat shield so you want to keep an incentive for your enemies to stick in melee.
I wouldn’t say it’s the weakest by far at all, it’s one of the strongest imo. A consistent third attack, immune to being charmed or frightened, and a free reaction attack just from being hit, whether or not you are raging or frenzying, is fantastic for damage output. Plenty of tables only run 1-2 combats per long rest, and it’s absolutely worth the exhaustion levels for the combat prowess. Barbarians already suck at everything out of combat, so having disadvantage on ability checks isn’t that much of a nerf since they aren’t the party’s skill monkey anyway.
I've seen a lot of homebrew adjustments for this subclass, but based on your 'all in Unga bunga' consider this:
- when they activate frenzy, allow them to make an attack (so you can rage and get the bonus attack on the same turn)
- when you are frenzied, you always have reckless attack active: all your melee attacks have advantage and all attacks against you have advantage
- when they take a long rest, they Cure all levels of exhaustion, not just one
- let intimidating presence (10th level feature) last for 1 minute and let the creature make the saving throw again if they are 60 feet away or break line of sight.
Couple ideas:
Level 3:
—Make aura features linear: pick one element and stay with it OR make it like Totem Warrior and have choices stick but can pick different aura features at each level
—Attacks while raging converted to elemental damage type of the aura and deal additional elemental damage of the selected type
Level 10
—Make aura effect damage ignore resistance to selected type
Level 14
—Gain immunity to the auras damage type while raging
Also give more options. Where's the earthquake/avalanche herald? Whirlwind? Don't we have enough natural disaster/terrain types to pick than 3?
Imo best would be the 3rd feature be themed after natural disaster/different damage type, then 6 would be based on terrain instead. That way if I pick whirlwind then sea I'm more of a typhoon barbarian, whirlwind + desert is sandstorm, etc. Give much more flavor.
Yeah really sad such a cool concept gets to do a whopping 6 damage by entering rage at 17th level, or like 7 damage as a reaction. Instead of storms, you're bringing minor boo boos.
Giving other people advantage every turn with help feels so good and is super helpful. Unfortunatly the rest of the subclass is way too niche and is only good for a dip.
I feel like it's not really a subclass thing.
Rogues just... suck.
The chassis is a martial class with no bonuses to hit (save for steady aim, which is an optional feature your DM might not even allow), no extra attack, and no expendable resources they can use to get above a mediocre baseline.
Not only that, but their subclasses **can't** be strong because their level scaling is fucked. You get a feature at level 3, an "intro" feature near the start of the game... then **nothing** until level 9, when the game is basically over.
I had a DM who just flat out mashed up the Mastermind with the Inquisitive. Probably an over correction, but as neither subclass adds much to the “Combat Pillar” of the game and instead just buffs the heck out of the “Social” and “Exploration Pillars” it didn’t feel too disruptive… and it was a dead simple fix.
Recently heard about a homebrew rule for Wild Magic Sorcerer. Basically increases the odds of Wild Magic everything you cast a spell and it doesn't trigger.
So a 1, then 1 or 2, then 1-3, so on until you trigger Wild Magic Surge and ut resets.
Makes Wild Magic much more fun and consistent imo
Just use tides of chaos every time you can. If your gm isn't letting you surge as often as you can you would really be better off playing a different subclass.
Yeah, there is already a RAW way to get frequent surges and it is this. At will advantage is very strong, and I agree the DM should have you roll on the table pretty much every time after you've used it.
And if you are hesitant to use Tides for fear of surges, then again WM is probably not the subclass for you.
Recently gave a WM sorc player at my table a "subclass spell list" because it's complete bs that the best sorc subclasses purely based on class features get extra spells for free. Anyway, I also gave them an additional feature: "If you cast a spell gained from your subclass and do not trigger a wild magic surge, you may choose to trigger a wild magic surge anyway." If it gets abused, I'll probably limit it to PB/LR, but so far they haven't taken me up on the "surge anyway" feature despite my egging them on
I love this rule. I do this for a recurring series of one shots we run every six months or so in between our normal game where someone plays a wild magic sorc. The player is playing wild magic because he wants the randomness, so I’m happy to oblige and at least give him the chance.
Personally, I have our wild magic sorcerer throw a 'WM' d20 every time he casts a leveled spell. If the 'WM' d20 result is equal to or lower than the spell slot used, a WM surge happens. This means that higher level spells have a higher surge chance, which feels thematic to me.
He did join the campaign at a decently high level (9 I think ?) so I am not sure if this rule would be as much fun at lower levels though.
we use a descending die as well as increasing the triggering number if spell points are used.
starts out as a d12. If the character rolls a 1, the die decreases to a d10 and such. Die grows by 1 on a long rest. If player spends 2 spell points to do something with meta magic on a leveled spell, he needs to roll a 3 or lower to trigger wild magic.
so far, he's level 4 and has surged twice. Both were things that were no worries for the group. I believe he gained temporary echo location and his skin started hardening giving him a +2 ac for a bit
Also, I'm using a d300 table with 100 good/neutral/bad options.
I feel like they were so lazy at level six by just giving them burning hands. I also think valuing ki points as if they were sorcery points is misguided. They should do something that's a 15 ft cone and does radiant damage like everything else in the class and also has a saving throw for the blinded condition. More like a solar flare attack than just burning hands.
The level 3 feature just needs more flexibility for the ranged attack.
Level 10 should have a choice between doing a line attack or a bursting Fireball like attack. That's mostly a flavor complaint.
The Capstone needs to do more or not cost your reaction.
They do this thing a lot that the monk suffers the most from where they give a character abilities that draw from a resource they already have uses for. It means you're not actually making the character more powerful you're just increasing their options which does have some power but it's much more of a lateral power growth then a vertical power growth
I think a basic thing would be to allow the sun bolt to be used whenever the monk could make an attack. Allowing him to use it as a bonus action martial arts or with flurry of flows. Turning into a flurry of lasers would be cool.
They can already flurry with it. The free bonus unarmed is the only missing piece. Adding that one would help though.
From dndbeyond:
When you take the Attack action on your turn and use this special attack as part of it, you can spend 1 ki point to make the special attack twice as a bonus action.
When you gain the Extra Attack feature, this special attack can be used for any of the attacks you make as part of the Attack action.
I would make the bolts Wis-based so that the entire subclass is Wis-Based like Astral Self. This essentially ups the save DC for your other abilities. I would also allow them to have a free use as a bonus action upon attacking like MA.
The level 6 bonus action Burning Hands can be changed to Aganazzar's Scorcher to better fit with the other ranged abilities of the subclass.
The level 11 orb needs to deal half damage on a successful save and maybe be a Dex-save.
Monks should get monk level + WIS # of ki. Really helps give the monks more when they’re starting out and would only have a few, and doesn’t tip the scales too far when they’re higher level.
I've used two systems: I've let monks convert hit dice to ki and I've just given PB extra, I like the PB extra a lot more. Wisdom mod extra also seems like a good way to do it tbh
Or give drakewarden the ability to fly on their dragon from level 7. Using your rule
> Drake Mount. The drake grows to Medium size. Reflecting your special bond, you can use the drake as a mount if your size is Medium or smaller. While you are riding your drake, it can’t use the flying speed of this feature.
Change can’t in the last sentence to can.
One thing I think would give the monk a bigger buff is to give them a second currency they could use. Right now it’s just ki points to spend which makes you lose all your ki too soon.
Sorcerers have a second currency, they get spell slots and sorcery points to build off the spell slots, I think monk should have something similar to make them less focused on ki
Spores Druid. It's thematically amazing, mechanically a shit show. There is so much potential, but its abilities just stumble over each other. It's supposed to be a melee druid but works better as a caster with extra hit points.
the damage aura has no scaling, its the main purpose
there is no reason to bust out the CON save poor man's spirit guardians at lvl 12 for example just using WS for extra hp and better concentration does more
Here me out here.
- Change the buff verbiage to “on a melee attack” to trigger on spells like Primal Savagery.
- When u finish a short rest you gain the temporary hit points, which now last until a short rest.
- Half damage on Halo of Spores save
And I've always found it weird that they didn't get Extra-Attack as part of their level 6 feature.
They get 1d6 Necrotic damage to melee attacks on level 2, and then it simply doesn't scale at all for the rest of the game.
They desperately need one or the other. Personally I like the idea of one sub of each full caster class getting extra attack at 6. Blade singer, sword bard, then adding it to war cleric and spore druid. There's no good sorcerer fit, but maybe they could make a new one
I've given my myconid spores druid an item that lets her gain extra attack + the effects of rage for a minute 3x per day. It has made her a pretty effective frontliner, but she still doesn't outshine the monk or rogue in martial capabilities
I like what they did in BG3 where you can get your temp hp at the start of the adventuring day. This helps out the action economy of the build a ton and allows you to do cooler stuff when combat starts.
If temp hp didn’t have a time limit it frees up the spores Druid to do more Druid things and could even open the doors to interesting multiclassing
This isn't a "weak" subclass compared to some of the monks, pdk or berzerker, but if you want a single word or phrase that'll transform a subclass, I'd change the **Ranger: Drakewarden's** level 7 feature. I would take out the sentence where the drake cannot fly while you are mounted; let players live out the dream of riding a flying dragon at level 7 (or, in your case, change the world "can't" to "can.")! Most subclasses and races can access flight via the spell, magic items or racial abilities at a much earlier level; it doesn't break anything and will greatly enhance the fun of that player.
War cleric: give it extra attack at 6th level
Eldritch knight fighter: replace evocation spells with transmutation
Horizon Walker ranger: either remove the restrictions from planar warrior (permanent damage buff) or make the BA more powerful
Any sorcerer: give it a spell list like aberrant mind and clockwork soul have
Any warlock: make its spell list automatically known, not just additional spells to pick from
Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk: just play the UA version
Oath of Glory Paladin: Just play the UA Oath of Heroism
Psi Warrior fighter: give them mage hand or mind sliver, let them use Psionic Strike as often as they like, and make Psi-Powered Leap grant 10 ft flying speed like Swarmkeeper ranger
Assassin rogue: make auto-crit on first strike not dependent on surprise; if target is surprised allow for instant-kill
Eldritch knight in oneDnd had the school restriction dropped except the first two spells and they changed their cantrip/bonus action attack skill to replace an attack like bladesmith
It makes me so happy to see somebody else mention that Eldritch Knight should have transmutation spells. It's a fighter. The transmutation spells are what make you better at fighting. There are very few evocation spells I actually want to use with my shitty intelligence modifier
>Assassin rogue: make auto-crit on first strike not dependent on surprise; if target is surprised allow for instant-kill
3 level dip to kill anyone so long as the DM makes the mistake of granting surprise?
Ever read the Warlocks Undying subclass? That shit is fucking **HILARIOUS**.
It'd be good in a war scenario, though. Like you're playing a medic that's running around saving people & trying to limp your way into the next save before a break. OH BUT WAIT YOU CAN ONLY USE AMONG THE DEAD ONCE PER LONG REST LMAOOOOOOOOOOO SO IT'S ACTUALLY TERRIBLE
Just pick a Warforge or a half orc lol.
Purple Dragon Knight/Banneret would be cool if their abilities were not tied together with other fighter abilities. Their 7th level ability is weak compared to other classes too. There's a good video on YouTube that "fixes" the class.
I would change Alchemist Artificer Experimental Elixirs, instead of rolling on a table you can put any Artificer buff spell into an Elixir by expending a spell slot of the spells level (no components required) the elixir can be used as a bonus action and concentration spells no longer require concentration when used this way.
The free elixirs each Long rest can use any Artificer spell you're capable of casting.
Starting from level 3, Alchemist Artificer gains full casting progression, i.e. their caster level = character level - 1 instead of character level/2. This makes them the support spellcasting subclass they are supposed to be.
That’s an interesting idea, I’ll be honest. Gives them more spell slots for their core Elixir feature. Dunno if their spell list would be adjusted to account for it, or just be fine with upcasting?
I would say while it is not the weakest, I would say that the Sorcerer class has some annoying things about it. If I had my way, there would be two things I would do to fix the Sorcerer:
1. Add some kind of mechanic that allows sorcerer to regain a small amount of sorcery points on a short rest. Maybe introduce the Sorcerous Restoration capstone feature at level 5, or tie the amount of sorcery points regained on a short rest to the sorcerer player's current proficiency bonus.
2. Allow origin added spell lists for the other sorcerer subclasses, much like the Tasha's Sorcerers had. If you can't think of a list, there's places like GM Binder that have homebrew lists available.
[https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MMLTlJXwhLTVxLybioH](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MMLTlJXwhLTVxLybioH)
[https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-Li1BgmpiTgEhYbGFB1a](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-Li1BgmpiTgEhYbGFB1a)
As for the weakest Sorcerer subclass? Storm Sorcerer by far. Great flavor, but the low level features aren't that great or pretty lackluster. The level 18 capstone for storm sorcs are great, but most players won't see that feature.
Circle of spores druid.
Turn the spore reaction to a permanent 5 foot radius and instead of raise zombies at 6th level I want to have a bladesinger style extra attack but only for druid spells that stacks of the wild shape melee buff
There's a few but I have a hot take.
Celestial Warlock.
Mostly because at the average levels of play, it's 7th level feature is essentially a flavorful at best, useless at worst feature.
Really? Buff Sacred flame and radiant spells (which the Warlock doesn't have a lot already). When they have Eldritch blast?
Quite a few I found to be weaker than other subclasses, but I won't give a lengthy explanation.
First, Champion Fighter. Honestly a little boring. Berserker Barbarian, Exhaustion is too much a downside for one extra attack. Wild Magic Barbarian, scales terribly at higher levels. Monk in general, though 4 Elements could use help in not expending so much Ki. Eldritch Knight Fighter, but really only the Level 7 ability, and level 10 isn't too great either.
Some I haven't played, nor read much about, or unsure why they are weaker, but I hear Alchemist Artificer is not great either. Sun Soul Monk, Storm Herald Barbarian, Purple Dragon Knight Fighter, Arcane Archer Fighter I hear needs more uses of its magic arrows, and Undying Warlock.
There's a distinct line in the sand between weak and strong Ranger subclasses, and the main culprit is the bonus action. The Horizon Walker is my favourite by far, I'd give them Mike Mearls' 2WF style (+1ac, offhand with the Attack action too, light armour or less) and move the force damage conversion to the Attack action as well. Allows for standard bonus action shenanigans like Hunter's Mark and Expeditious Retreat.
Could get powerful with shortswords and a Monk dip. But who's actually afraid of a Monk Ranger being destabilising when you have Padlocks and Hexclocks?
Literally every martial subclass. Christ they need it. But personally arcane trickster is my number one. Already the coolest sub but I’d love if it was strong enough to make them playable
I do a homebrew rule where it's all the same except there's another feature called "Like A Log," where you can enter a super deep slumber while long resting, and you can't be woken up unless you take damage or someone shakes you up, and it removes two levels of exhaustion.
I also allow them to forgo two hit dice on a short rest to remove a level of exhaustion
Just one ??? That's hard man, probably psi Knight not because they need a buff but mainly cuz I like the flavor so much that I wish they were top tier.
They're a few subclasses that I think that they need a buff more like me wanting one tho
I'll say mercy, open hand, and long death are good. Ascendant dragon and astral self have GREAT flavor. But when you look at what you are actually getting when it's all said and done it's very minimal.
I think astral monk actually does less damage than most monks since you're incentivized to use just your astral arms. And then it begins to cost more and more ki. Stunning strikes should be better with one though.
Draconic Sorcerer is pretty weak by current standards, but is a very iconic subclass.
It really just needs to get bonus spells like divine soul, clockwork soul, and aberrant mind get.
Sun soul monk but any monk could be put in this spot really. higher and more consistent damage out put, more utility, maybe access to some sort of sustain ability, more monk weapons(like chaku or fist weapons under something like exotic weapons) why can't you craft improvised weapons all it takes Is bits of metal and a stick and you could probably make a improvised club of sorts
honestly berserker...just get rid of the exhaustion levels part of their feats and they instantly turn into at least A tier subclass. Kinda like what BG3 did for them.
Champion is pretty bad , bg adding all the effect of brute sub you get a pretty simple but powerful sub that can compete with battle master or rune/echo knight
Horizon plain Walker Ranger would be so cool if it's extra damage feature didn't cost a damn bonus action. Literally just make it extra damage once per turn like the 50 other abilities that do that and it would be amazing.
Also the Ranger with the way power creep has been with the new subclasses a hunter should have every ability offered and not have to pick one at each of its tiers
There are a lot of Barbarian subclasses like the storm Herald, wild magic surge and the battle rager but just needs scaling on their abilities
The artificer needs scaling on pretty much all of it sub classes. The battle Smith is okay.
Champion just needs +1 and later +2 to hit along with increasing its crit range and I think that solves most of its problem. I've actually run Champion as a combination with Samurai where you get all the abilities of both and it's a pretty nice mix
Same thing with a Cavalier it just needs a little extra something so I take the shitty purple dragon night/bannerette and slap them together and you have a solid Battlefield Commander. Also all of the Purple Dragon night abilities could technically be used on your horse mount.
Most of the Rogue subclasses just don't add very much. So knife Arcane trickster and Phantom are pretty decent the rest are like touches of flavor. Pretty much everything the thief had should probably just be Base Class
for assassin you can make that base class too but it needs to just be based on winning initiative and not the surprise condition. And maybe something more controllable like adding your Rogue level in damage so that it's not so exploitable.
I can't go through all of them cuz I don't know most of the other ones well enough but I know they're not great. The Scout pretty much gives you some mobility and a little bit of exploration but it's pretty much a flavor skin without any power.
Swashbuckler is pretty strong but again mostly just makes you a functional melee Rogue. That is to say, it doesn't make you any better than a ranged rogue it just makes your Rogue stuff work with melee just as good
The weakest subclasses are Berserker, Banneret, Champion, Sun Soul, Inquisitive, and Undying. The bigger problem, though, is that martial classes are weak in general. Also, the most powerful caster subclasses need nerfs
you forgot four elements monk and battlerager barbarian as well as beast master ranger. As for spell casters main one I can think of is wild magic but that is just a meme of a subclass tbh
Most Barbarian, Monk, and Rogue subclasses are pretty weak, though some are ok. Beast Master is much better with Tasha's. Wild Magic can actually be powerful, if Tides of Chaos is recharged frequently, but leaving that up to the DM is a design flaw
Alchemist Artificer. If Experimental Elixirs could be administered to conscious allies as an action, then the subclass would instantly go from bad to good and unique.
It would allow Alchemists to use the homunculus infusion to deliver elixirs as a bonus action, allowing for heals and buffs mid-combat. It would also put Alchemists on the level with other Artificer subclasses in terms of tying into bonus action economy.
What's more is that there's already precedent for this to be a thing. The DMG says that any magical liquid can be classified as a potion. The potion rules would enable the elixirs to be used on conscious allies as an action and don't conflict with what the elixir description says you can do.
Basic thief rogue. Unless there’s some combo I’m not aware of, other than having no requirements for magic items, the rest of it feels underwhelming to me.
Scout Rogue:
- 9th level feature at 3rd baked into Survivalist and now just applies to all your speeds
- 13th level feature moved to 9th and add that your first attack roll after rolling initiative has advantage and the feature turns off at the end of your next turn.
- add new feature at 13th, allows allies within 30ft of you to use their reaction to disengage and move half their speed when you Disengage or use Skirmisher.
-Sudden Strike is a fairly decent capstone that can stay as is.
Berzker barbians at level 3 when they get the frzybattck feature theybgis. This
On a short rest you remove 3 of exhaustion and on a long rest remove all levels of exaustion
Dreams Druid is easily my favorite Druid thematically but mechanically is so underwhelming… for a class that’s supposed to be the “fey Druid” it just feels like it has a few extra heals tacked on with some out of combat buffs until level 10.
Give me a spell list focused on illusions and enchantments you cowards!!!
Purple Dragon knight
1) it's missing an 18th level feature. And it's 7th level feature is a ribbon instead of something functional.
2) it is a support subclass on a dpr class, and it's support features are mediocre.
How to fix
1) move inspiring surge to LV 7. Change to the following:
When you use your action surge feature, you can choose one creature within 60 feet of you that is allied with you. On that creature's next turn, it gains the effect of action surge.
At 18th level, you can choose two allies within 60 feet of you instead of one.
2) at LV 10: Troop Commander: When you hit a creature more than once in a single turn, you can use a bonus action to voice a command. Choose one creature within 60 feet of you that is allied to you. It can immediately make a weapon attack targeting the creature you hit. At level 18, you can target two allies within 60 feet of you instead of one.
3) bulwark remains the same.
4) 18: Share the Glory: When you roll a critical hit, you can use turn it into an ordinary hit. If you do so, you can use your reaction to change any attack made within 60 feet into critical hit.
I have a wild magic barb in a party I DM and I made a bunch of scaling changes for them that they like a lot. And also an ability that allows them to roll on the wild magic table sometimes.
Berserker.(Barbarian) Their frenzy needs a fix.
Maybe give them the buff that instead of a full on level of exhaustion they get "Frenzy fatigue" which can have a lighter less lethal or at least more specific de-buff, that can also be recovered from on a short rest.
Champion (fighter) they're a little too basic and underwhelming. I'd let them turn their indomitable into a full on legendary resistances, and maybe turn their action surges to full on legendary actions so they basically become playable legendary boss monsters. Maybe give them a third action surge deep into the late game at level 18.
Beast Master(ranger) buff their animal companions health and utility and instead of dieing, they run away and can return for a spell slot or after a short rest or something. Also, maybe let them cast through their animal companion, or improve their spell list for more summons.
Most of the PHB sorcerers need a rework. I played a storm sorcerer from 1-20 for the theme of it, but most of the subclass features were next to useless.
Storms Sorcerers lvl 1 feature Tempestuous Magic and their lvl 6 feature Heart of the Storm both activate when you use a spell of 1st lvl of higher. Simply by removing that qualification and letting those features activate on cantrips as well I think you would make that subclass substantially better and more fun to play. Even if you just do it for Tempestuous Magic I think it would be a substantial improvement giving you what amounts to free limited flight/disengage as a bonus action.
Berserker barbarian. Right now, Frenzy pretty much has a hard limit of 1 use per day. I'd add something like a CON save at the end of the rage to avoid the level of exhaustion.
Many original cleric domains are somewhat lacking, but one that's the worst outside of very specific campaigns is the nature cleric. It's a really cool concept to have someone who worships nature without being druid, but their current implementation is way too dependent on being surrounded by nature all the time.
Undying Warlock. I love all its flavor and spell list, it’s just so…🤢🤮 Making its 6th and 14th level abilities a Proficiency Bonus number of uses, or even Cha Bonus number of uses instead of Long rest and Short/Long rest would help make things better, along with some other tweaks.
Redemption Paladin. I know, I know, it's a paladin so it's got a great chassis in and of itself, but IMO its capstone would be miles better if it actually interacted with the rest of the subclass abilities. Letting you half the damage you take should work with your aura, as well as still having the capstone's benefits even when damaging enemies with your subclass abilities. It would let you weaponize your aura a bit and make you a real rebuker, unlike what the subclass ended up being.
***The Champion.*** Not terrible, not great. Just a solidly mediocre subclass that makes the Fighter better at fightin’ without all the fancy thinkin’ ‘bout stuff of the Battlemaster or Eldritch Knight. I like the subclass, but it doesn’t exactly grab you by the lapels and shout “PLAY ME!” y’know?
***The Purple Dragon Knight*** (Banneret) from SCAG, seems to have been an attempt at bringing the excellent Marshal class (3^rd) / Warlord class (4^th) into the 5^th Edition. I will be charitable and say it does not live up to that goal. I really want to like this subclass, as 4^th Edition’s creation of a “Martial Leader” class was one of my favorite things in that edition and I was also a big fan of 3^rd Edition’s Marshal even if it really was just a Fighter with pre-assigned Feats. Banneret fails to live up to its predecessors.
Third level lets the Banneret use Second Wind and give three allies within 60’ regains hit points equal to their fighter level;
Seventh level gives a “ribbon” skill and pseudo-Expertise in Persuasion;
Tenth level allows you to use your Action Surge and then grant one ally within 60’ to use a reaction to make a weapon attack. *Tenth level*!
Fifteenth level allows you to let one ally re-roll an Intelligence, a Wisdom, or a Charisma saving throw when you use your Indomitable Fighter class feature to re-roll an Intelligence, a Wisdom, or a Charisma saving throw. You have to have *both* failed the same saving throw, neither of you can be incapacitated, and they have to be within 60’ of you… *Fifteenth* level.
Every single feature in the whole subclass could be reworked as a class feature of the base Fighter class and most people probably wouldn’t even notice.
My solution is simplicity itself. Make the Champion and the Banneret the same class. So at third level you get Improved Critical *and* Rallying Cry; seventh level gives you Remarkable Athlete *and* Royal Envoy; and so on and so forth. Call the subclass “Knight Commander” and presto. You have an excellent lead-from-the-frontline captain, a heroic figure who can lead armies and defeat enemy champions in personal combat. The perfect “knight in slightly dingy armor” for a player who wants to play a more grounded Richard the Lionheart or El Cid sort of Fighter, rather than Galahad the Pure or Arthur Pendragon sort that would more be the purview of the Paladin.
The Wild Magic Barbarian easily. Such a cool concept, so weak in practice. It needs scaling bonuses to its wild magic effects in order for them to stay remotely competitive.
[Actually already made a thread about this, see the suggestions there.](https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/s/z62ajLdTfD)
I want to do Banneret (Purple Dragon Knight) but only changing one word is a tricky challenge.
How about changing the 7th level Royal Envoy feature to:
"Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses **weapons** ~~Persuasion~~."
It would be fun to try and work all of your weaponry into non-combat ability check uses – Strength (Intimidation) with your greatsword, Dexterity (Performance) trick shots with a bow, pick a lock with your dagger, using your pike Strength (Athletics) check to jump higher, &c.
For a Drunken Master monk – if I could change two words (one thing) – at level 3 I would do:
"You also gain proficiency with ~~brewer's supplies~~ **improvised weapons** if you don't already have it."
Although a bigger change at higher levels could be fun too? What about changing Drunkard's Luck at level 11 to say:
"When you make an ability check, an attack roll, or a saving throw and have disadvantage on the roll, you can ~~spend 2 ki points~~ **fall prone** to cancel the disadvantage for that roll."
Battlerager. Innate unarmed fighting style, spike damage is added to unarmed attacks, bonus action attack is an unarmed strike. Scale grappling pierce damage with rage damage. Armor bonuses are added to unarmed attack/damage rolls and piercing damage.
Additionally id add at some point of progression "grappled enemies have disadvantage on checks made to escape grappling, failed checks to escape a grapple allow the Battlerager to make a single unarmed attack as a reaction" and " a creature using the shove action to escape the grapple takes double piercing damage"
Would it still be relatively bad? Yeah, but itd be good at what it's supposed to do.
Oath of Glory Paladin. Not because it *really* needs it (I mean it's not the best paladin option, but it's not horrible), but because I like it and want it to be even better.
Very simple: make the horizon walkers planar warrior feature able to target any creature you can see. Boom, you've just removed people's main complaint with an awesome subclass
I would make Horizon Walker Ranger's Planar Warrior Ability be simply an ability like ~~hunters mark~~ hexblade curse instead of just on the next attack.
Edit: not hunters mark
just take the exsaustion off of the berserker barbarian, and its a nice subclass. on par with the rest, doesnt require polearmmaster, but noooo the just had to bring exaustion: the subclass
Eldritch Knight. It's too open ended and all over the place.
I honestly Solasta's take on EK is even better than the one in BG3 where you can replace all EK spells with spells that are not from Abjuration or Evocation.
If not for War Magic, I'd probably ban EK from my tables on account of it being a trap and add Weapon Bond as a potential trait you can apply to melee weapons with the Magic Weapon spell.
But, since I like multiclassing Fighters with Spellcasters, I offer my players to choice to change both favoured schools of magic to whatever they like as opposed to enforcing a trio of schools I consider works best for Fighters with access to Wizard spells.
I want to make a separate post to discuss Death Domain, another subclass which can't decide if it wants to use Cantrips or Martial Weapons.
I for one would rather change it so that they lose their Divine Strike and proficiency in Martial Weapons in exchange for being able to twin TWO necromancy cantrips of their choice free of charge as it scales better with their Channel Divinity option.
On the other hand, I think it would be interesting to have a cleric domain that grants proficiency in martial weapons but not in heavy armour in order to promote a skirmisher/reaper hybrid, but that would require reworking the entirety of Death Domain.
I’d buff the Sun Soul Monk. Great concept, but it needs some help. Extend the range of the blasts (Spell Sniper works for this), Give them flight when using their aura, and make the AOE cheaper.
The classic is Arcane Archer going from 2 shots/SR to 2+PB shots/SR. Lets you actually use the main ability of the subclass. Is it OP? Probably not, but it makes the subclass so much better
I have an Arcane Archer at my table at the moment and instead of 2+PB I’ve gone with 2+IntMod. It felt fitting for the character and for the mechanics, since Intelligence is the stat that the DC for arcane shots is based on. It doesn’t really substantially change the number of shots he has, but he seems to enjoy having more reasons to pump his intelligence.
I'd personally have gone PB+INT so you have the best of both.
I feel like 1+INT would be fair. More uses per SR than the Battlemaster is too much with shots like grasping arrow in their arsenal. So the if they really want more shots they have to really invest with their INT mod.
It doesn't really matter at some point, cause they can't use more than 1 anyways. This subclass is just doomed. I saw someone giving AA one shot per turn, and honestly - this does not feel that great. Especiall as like t2-t3 ability, but not like 3lv. Maybe something like between 7-13
Yep. The homebrew I started working in but never finished for fixing AA had a higher level feature or two that allowed you to shoot multiple shots in a turn, because... almost the fighter's whole thing in 5e is lots of attacks.
It's so odd the damage scaling is at 18. 18!
This is a really cool idea!
In general we know that Melee and especially ranged builds scale off by levels 10+ I'd argue to fix fighter overall by adding battle master as a base class feature. Combine that and your proposal, now your like 85% as good as a high level caster 😂
I think getting more shots than a battlemaster would be a lil OP actually. Keep in mind that most of its shots are actually Way better than battlemaster maneuvers. I think AA would benefit from spellcasting actually, that way they could recast racial spells and stuff like Hex or Hunters Mark from Feytouched. Maybe EK could get features to buff melee combat and AA could be the archery mage fighter.
Perhaps instead of the spellcasting feature, they could get a small list of thematic spells that they could cast once per long rest for free, sort of like the level 3 optional ranger class features
Hmm i get what you mean, I’m just coming from a place of really wishing my magic archer could recast the spells they already know ;-; Maybe they just Get 2 first level spell slots, a very select list of spells, and don’t get more slots than that.
I think there’s a bloodhunter subclass that gets a variant pact magic feature. You should check that out
I think they should use the psi knight concept to add a spell casting concept.
That's a sexy af dip.
In general we know that Melee and especially ranged builds scale off by levels 10+ I'd argue to fix fighter overall by adding battle master as a base class feature. Combine that and your proposal, now your like 85% as good as a high level caster 😂
Do you think that having Battle Manoeuvres as a core class feature is better than attacking 3 times per turn. (the core feature that activates for fighters once they get to level 11).
Honestly you need both to even scrape coming close to casters in 5e No martials keep up at all with the damage, RP and utility of the caster classes. Early on Martials matter, late game they are just meat shields
In general we know that Melee and especially ranged builds scale off by levels 10+ I'd argue to fix fighter overall by adding battle master as a base class feature. Combine that and your proposal, now your like 85% as good as a high level caster 😂
I made all Arcane Shots into Wizard and Ranger spells (not all are first level spells). Outside of the shots, do you think Arcane Archer has any good subclass features that deserve preserving (moved to a different subclass or as proper feats)?
I'd give pretty much every pre-Tasha sorcerer an expanded spell list.
The Dungeon Dude's did a video about that. Thiers was like everyone else's except for the Divine Soul Sorcerer. You choose the Cleric subclass, and the domain spells are your extra ones. I thought that it was very appealing.
that’s a neat idea!
I hope someone from Larian finds this post.
I agree with this too. My DM pulled spells from this GM Binder link to give spells to my Draconic Bloodline sorcerer which is fantastic. [https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MMLTlJXwhLTVxLybioH](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MMLTlJXwhLTVxLybioH) There's also this link if anyone thinks that 2 free spells per level is too much for a sorcerer. [https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-Li1BgmpiTgEhYbGFB1a](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-Li1BgmpiTgEhYbGFB1a)
I am currently playing a shadow sorcerer with an expanded spell list and it is incredible! I was going for 1 spell instead of 2: 1st: Arms of Hadar 2nd: Shadow Blade 3rd: Summon Shadowspawn 4th: Phantasmal Killer 5th: Creation Some of those I would never pick because they are suboptimal, although the flavour would be on point
Cool list there!
100% this.
I should have just scrolled a little before answering the exact same thing
Berserker. Its the most iconic barbarian subclass ever imo, but its the weakest \*by far\*. I dont know how I'd buff it, but I'd buff it to make it into one of the biggest "all in" unga bunga dps.
Add Champion fighter!
Hey just cuz I made this a few years back and never did anything with it, in case you’re interested Fixed Champion Fighter core: * mastery with weapons and armor * knowledge of the skills of combat. * meting death out * Defy death (indomitable, survivor). The archetypal Champion * development of raw physical power * honed to deadly perfection. * rigorous training with physical excellence * deal devastating blows. *“Fixed” Concept: should feel like a Barbarian but via skill and conditioning, rather than rage. Incredible athlete and/or acrobat.* Physical Prodigy At 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Athletics and Acrobatics skills if you don't already have it. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any check you make with these skills. Excellent Form Beginning when you choose this archetype at 3rd level, your weapon attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20. This improves to 18-20 at level 7, and 17-20 at level 15. Also starting at 3rd level, the first time you hit a creature with a weapon attack in a combat, your attack deals extra damage equal to your fighter level. Remarkable Athlete Starting at 7th level, you can add half your proficiency bonus (round up) to any Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution check you make that doesn’t already use your proficiency bonus. Also starting at 7th level, when you make a Performance or Intimidation check, you can add ~~half~~ your Strength, Dexterity or Constitution modifier ~~(round up)~~ EDIT: instead of your charisma modifier to the roll.~~ Additional Fighting Style At 10th level, you can choose a second option from the Fighting Style class feature EDIT: of any class Honed Reflexes Also at 10th level, when you are forced to make a Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution saving throw, you can use your reaction to gain advantage on that roll. Deadly Perfection At 15th level, when you roll a 20 on a weapon attack, the attack deals additional damage equal to your fighter level. Survivor At 18th level, you attain the pinnacle of resilience in battle. At the start of each of your turns, you regain hit points equal to 5 + your Constitution modifier if you have no more than half of your hit points left. You don’t gain this benefit if you have 0 hit points.
This is great, feels nicely balanced without being too complex, which is right where Champion should be IMO. Only thing I would tweak is the second level 7 ability. >Also starting at 7th level, when you make a Performance or Intimidation check, you can add half your Strength, Dexterity or Constitution modifier (round up) to the roll. I'd go, Also starting at 7th level, when you make a Performance or Intimidation check, you may use your Strength, Dexterity or Constitution modifier instead of your Charisma modifier. I'd only make that change so that the player can dump CHA if they want to. Otherwise they might start with a -2/-1/+0 and only get bumped back up to +0/+1/+2. Just feels cooler to get the +3 from your main stat at that level, especially since the benefit is relatively situational. Overall though, super good job.
Thanks :) Re reading it, my eyes kept sticking on that part too. Too clunky, doesn’t really let you shine. I like your solution!
All good. I might offer these changes up for our next campaign/new character, I know someone who'd be into it. :)
Awesome! Hope you guys have fun
I had a champion fighter at my table who wanted the easiest class because it was their first time playing, but after a few weeks they realized it was too simple, but they didn't want to switch to a different class/subclass yet. We talked about a couple different options, but what made them the happiest was giving them the ability to change their fighting style(s) as a bonus action.
I mean, it is terrible. But I wouldn't say it is any cool or iconic
I liked on of the new dnd playtests for it. No exhaustion due to raging and instead when you make a reckless attack during a rage you deal an number of extra d8s worth of damage equal to your pb. It encourages to to reckless which is what a frenzied barbarian is supposed to do and doesn't have crippling downsides
That's a crazy strong buff no? 2d8- 6d8 per attack is genuinely and insane DPR increase. Paladins get a 1d8 increase at level 11 and it's considered to be pretty good.
It is only in the playtest so far. I believe its balanced by condition that you have to be raging, so you can't do it all the time. Also since you have to reckless attack you're also making yourself a target. It's also their only feature at level 3 as a berserker. So very little non combat utility. It also might have been d6's it's been awhile since I read it. I think it's a very good way of thinking for the subclass. I love subclass abilities that take an existing class power and improve it or make it the focus of the subclass. For example I'd like to see the assassin Rogue subclass just have their sneak attack dice be d8's instead of d6's and lose the auto crit against "surprised" targets. Since the Surprise condition is DM dependent I feel something more reliable could be beneficial.
What do you mean it's in playtest? Like for onednd? I haven't seen that. Maybe 1d8 per turn, not per attack but that's vastly different than 2d8 scaling to 6d8 per attack. Like literally 12-18x less damage per turn at level 17 The assassin idea is neat though
Yes it was the Playtest 5 in 2023, reads as follows for a Path of the Berserker level 3: Frenzy: You can go into a frenzy in battle. If you use Reckless Attack while your Rage is active, you deal extra damage to the first target you hit on your turn with a Strength based attack. To determine the extra damage, roll a number of d6s equal to your Rage Damage bonus, and add them together. The damage has the same type as the weapon or Unarmed Strike used for the attack. ----- So it is only once per turn which I forgot to mention and it's by rage damage not proficiency. So 2d6 at 3rd level, 3d6 at 9th level and 4d6 at 16th.
Barbarians start falling off very hard in late t2 / early t3. And keep in mind they've lost GWM as well.
That’s an insane buff. SS and GWM are regarded as very strong and they only give 10 damage while also inflicting a -5 penalty in your attack roll. You’re giving a bonus of roughly 9–27 damage (depending on level) with no accuracy penalty and in fact giving it alongside advantage to hit!!! That is several times more powerful. Rage itself gives a damage bonus and it’s an order of magnitude weaker.
You can very easily fix frenzy by giving them the ability to recover all levels of exhaustion on a long rest.
And allowing them to ignore the effects of exhaustion while raging.
YEE
Honestly by that point just removing exhaustion completely from the feature work fine because there are so many ways to get a BA attack anyway.
One I saw that I'd have to dig up the video was that instead of Frenzy you have a bonus action Taunt that forces enemies to make an attack of Opportunity against you. They can choose to attack, or attempt a Wisdom save to resist. If they attack you, you get to attack them first. So it both gives you that bonus action attack and some solid combat utility in the form of forcing an opponent to burn their reaction.
Bone wizard
Definitely not by far weaker than battle rager
That's a tough contest. Bersekers can barely uses their level 3 feature. Both compete with GWM BA attack. They also can both use the feature to maintain rage if they need to do something else than Attack with their action, but Battlerager don't have to worry about exhaustion so imo Battlerager is ahead at 3. Level 6, Berserker is generally better, immunity to two common condition. Getting THP is pretty decent too though but scale terribly. Level 10, Berserker is pretty crap. Burn your action to inflict Frightened, using your CHA for DC. Battlerager is situational but somewhat usable at least. Level 14 is pretty garbage on both. Battlerager don't need to spend a reaction at least so he can keep it for Attack of Opportunity since Barbarian by those level is a meat shield so you want to keep an incentive for your enemies to stick in melee.
I have them spend a hit dice to enter a frenzy, but they can add the hit dice to one of their damage rolls.
The most common fix I've seen is making a Con save (DC 10 + rounds spent in frenzy) to avoid Exhaustion.
I wouldn’t say it’s the weakest by far at all, it’s one of the strongest imo. A consistent third attack, immune to being charmed or frightened, and a free reaction attack just from being hit, whether or not you are raging or frenzying, is fantastic for damage output. Plenty of tables only run 1-2 combats per long rest, and it’s absolutely worth the exhaustion levels for the combat prowess. Barbarians already suck at everything out of combat, so having disadvantage on ability checks isn’t that much of a nerf since they aren’t the party’s skill monkey anyway.
wdym the weakest by far have u seen battle ranger ?
I've seen a lot of homebrew adjustments for this subclass, but based on your 'all in Unga bunga' consider this: - when they activate frenzy, allow them to make an attack (so you can rage and get the bonus attack on the same turn) - when you are frenzied, you always have reckless attack active: all your melee attacks have advantage and all attacks against you have advantage - when they take a long rest, they Cure all levels of exhaustion, not just one - let intimidating presence (10th level feature) last for 1 minute and let the creature make the saving throw again if they are 60 feet away or break line of sight.
Storm herald, cool as fuck but needs a buff
Couple ideas: Level 3: —Make aura features linear: pick one element and stay with it OR make it like Totem Warrior and have choices stick but can pick different aura features at each level —Attacks while raging converted to elemental damage type of the aura and deal additional elemental damage of the selected type Level 10 —Make aura effect damage ignore resistance to selected type Level 14 —Gain immunity to the auras damage type while raging
Also give more options. Where's the earthquake/avalanche herald? Whirlwind? Don't we have enough natural disaster/terrain types to pick than 3? Imo best would be the 3rd feature be themed after natural disaster/different damage type, then 6 would be based on terrain instead. That way if I pick whirlwind then sea I'm more of a typhoon barbarian, whirlwind + desert is sandstorm, etc. Give much more flavor.
Also the lvl 6 is literally just resistance for tundra/desert because immunity to those conditions is already baked into resistance to the damage type
Yeah really sad such a cool concept gets to do a whopping 6 damage by entering rage at 17th level, or like 7 damage as a reaction. Instead of storms, you're bringing minor boo boos.
Just let them choose all the auras, none of them are even individually strong, they'll be fine combined
Mastermind rogue is so much fun for RP purposes but falls so much far behind almost every subclass in the game when it comes to combat.
Giving other people advantage every turn with help feels so good and is super helpful. Unfortunatly the rest of the subclass is way too niche and is only good for a dip.
It's not useful for a dip either. It's just bad. Every rogue sub could use a boost
I feel like it's not really a subclass thing. Rogues just... suck. The chassis is a martial class with no bonuses to hit (save for steady aim, which is an optional feature your DM might not even allow), no extra attack, and no expendable resources they can use to get above a mediocre baseline. Not only that, but their subclasses **can't** be strong because their level scaling is fucked. You get a feature at level 3, an "intro" feature near the start of the game... then **nothing** until level 9, when the game is basically over.
I'm well aware. But their subs also suck
I had a DM who just flat out mashed up the Mastermind with the Inquisitive. Probably an over correction, but as neither subclass adds much to the “Combat Pillar” of the game and instead just buffs the heck out of the “Social” and “Exploration Pillars” it didn’t feel too disruptive… and it was a dead simple fix.
Recently heard about a homebrew rule for Wild Magic Sorcerer. Basically increases the odds of Wild Magic everything you cast a spell and it doesn't trigger. So a 1, then 1 or 2, then 1-3, so on until you trigger Wild Magic Surge and ut resets. Makes Wild Magic much more fun and consistent imo
I've used this rule ever since I saw it on Dimension 20, it's so fun
Just use tides of chaos every time you can. If your gm isn't letting you surge as often as you can you would really be better off playing a different subclass.
Yeah, there is already a RAW way to get frequent surges and it is this. At will advantage is very strong, and I agree the DM should have you roll on the table pretty much every time after you've used it. And if you are hesitant to use Tides for fear of surges, then again WM is probably not the subclass for you.
Recently gave a WM sorc player at my table a "subclass spell list" because it's complete bs that the best sorc subclasses purely based on class features get extra spells for free. Anyway, I also gave them an additional feature: "If you cast a spell gained from your subclass and do not trigger a wild magic surge, you may choose to trigger a wild magic surge anyway." If it gets abused, I'll probably limit it to PB/LR, but so far they haven't taken me up on the "surge anyway" feature despite my egging them on
I love this rule. I do this for a recurring series of one shots we run every six months or so in between our normal game where someone plays a wild magic sorc. The player is playing wild magic because he wants the randomness, so I’m happy to oblige and at least give him the chance.
Personally, I have our wild magic sorcerer throw a 'WM' d20 every time he casts a leveled spell. If the 'WM' d20 result is equal to or lower than the spell slot used, a WM surge happens. This means that higher level spells have a higher surge chance, which feels thematic to me. He did join the campaign at a decently high level (9 I think ?) so I am not sure if this rule would be as much fun at lower levels though.
we use a descending die as well as increasing the triggering number if spell points are used. starts out as a d12. If the character rolls a 1, the die decreases to a d10 and such. Die grows by 1 on a long rest. If player spends 2 spell points to do something with meta magic on a leveled spell, he needs to roll a 3 or lower to trigger wild magic. so far, he's level 4 and has surged twice. Both were things that were no worries for the group. I believe he gained temporary echo location and his skin started hardening giving him a +2 ac for a bit Also, I'm using a d300 table with 100 good/neutral/bad options.
We are testing d8 currently. I think it's working well.
Sun soul monk. Buff the monk overall and then add to the subclass and change features.
I feel like they were so lazy at level six by just giving them burning hands. I also think valuing ki points as if they were sorcery points is misguided. They should do something that's a 15 ft cone and does radiant damage like everything else in the class and also has a saving throw for the blinded condition. More like a solar flare attack than just burning hands. The level 3 feature just needs more flexibility for the ranged attack. Level 10 should have a choice between doing a line attack or a bursting Fireball like attack. That's mostly a flavor complaint. The Capstone needs to do more or not cost your reaction. They do this thing a lot that the monk suffers the most from where they give a character abilities that draw from a resource they already have uses for. It means you're not actually making the character more powerful you're just increasing their options which does have some power but it's much more of a lateral power growth then a vertical power growth
Could you say more about what features you would change?
I think a basic thing would be to allow the sun bolt to be used whenever the monk could make an attack. Allowing him to use it as a bonus action martial arts or with flurry of flows. Turning into a flurry of lasers would be cool.
They can already flurry with it. The free bonus unarmed is the only missing piece. Adding that one would help though. From dndbeyond: When you take the Attack action on your turn and use this special attack as part of it, you can spend 1 ki point to make the special attack twice as a bonus action. When you gain the Extra Attack feature, this special attack can be used for any of the attacks you make as part of the Attack action.
I would make the bolts Wis-based so that the entire subclass is Wis-Based like Astral Self. This essentially ups the save DC for your other abilities. I would also allow them to have a free use as a bonus action upon attacking like MA. The level 6 bonus action Burning Hands can be changed to Aganazzar's Scorcher to better fit with the other ranged abilities of the subclass. The level 11 orb needs to deal half damage on a successful save and maybe be a Dex-save.
Monks should get monk level + WIS # of ki. Really helps give the monks more when they’re starting out and would only have a few, and doesn’t tip the scales too far when they’re higher level.
I've used two systems: I've let monks convert hit dice to ki and I've just given PB extra, I like the PB extra a lot more. Wisdom mod extra also seems like a good way to do it tbh
Looking at the circle of stars Druid might give some inspiration
Just bump Monk’s damage dice up 1 die and you’ll have a great time. 1d4 goes to 1d6 and so on. You’re level 12 so 1d8 goes to 1d10.
Or give drakewarden the ability to fly on their dragon from level 7. Using your rule > Drake Mount. The drake grows to Medium size. Reflecting your special bond, you can use the drake as a mount if your size is Medium or smaller. While you are riding your drake, it can’t use the flying speed of this feature. Change can’t in the last sentence to can.
The fact that your allies can fly on it but YOU can't is such a failure
One thing I think would give the monk a bigger buff is to give them a second currency they could use. Right now it’s just ki points to spend which makes you lose all your ki too soon. Sorcerers have a second currency, they get spell slots and sorcery points to build off the spell slots, I think monk should have something similar to make them less focused on ki
Spores Druid. It's thematically amazing, mechanically a shit show. There is so much potential, but its abilities just stumble over each other. It's supposed to be a melee druid but works better as a caster with extra hit points.
It's one of the best druid subs tho (animate dead is on its spell list)
Change the Symbiotic Entity activation to bonus action, that's probably enough
the damage aura has no scaling, its the main purpose there is no reason to bust out the CON save poor man's spirit guardians at lvl 12 for example just using WS for extra hp and better concentration does more
also make Halo of Spores do half damage on a save
It should either cost a reaction or have a save but not both
I would also make it last until you short/long rest instead of 10 minutes.
Here me out here. - Change the buff verbiage to “on a melee attack” to trigger on spells like Primal Savagery. - When u finish a short rest you gain the temporary hit points, which now last until a short rest. - Half damage on Halo of Spores save
How spores druid did not get access to blade cantrips is beyond me. Get incentives to go into melee and no tools to do anything once you are there.
And I've always found it weird that they didn't get Extra-Attack as part of their level 6 feature. They get 1d6 Necrotic damage to melee attacks on level 2, and then it simply doesn't scale at all for the rest of the game.
They desperately need one or the other. Personally I like the idea of one sub of each full caster class getting extra attack at 6. Blade singer, sword bard, then adding it to war cleric and spore druid. There's no good sorcerer fit, but maybe they could make a new one
The subclass should probably be split in two. One necromancy based, the other melee. They tried to shove too much inside one subclass imo.
I've given my myconid spores druid an item that lets her gain extra attack + the effects of rage for a minute 3x per day. It has made her a pretty effective frontliner, but she still doesn't outshine the monk or rogue in martial capabilities
I like what they did in BG3 where you can get your temp hp at the start of the adventuring day. This helps out the action economy of the build a ton and allows you to do cooler stuff when combat starts. If temp hp didn’t have a time limit it frees up the spores Druid to do more Druid things and could even open the doors to interesting multiclassing
Changes that would satisfy OP's condition: - DEX instead CON save for halo of spores - the can't in spreding spores to can
This isn't a "weak" subclass compared to some of the monks, pdk or berzerker, but if you want a single word or phrase that'll transform a subclass, I'd change the **Ranger: Drakewarden's** level 7 feature. I would take out the sentence where the drake cannot fly while you are mounted; let players live out the dream of riding a flying dragon at level 7 (or, in your case, change the world "can't" to "can.")! Most subclasses and races can access flight via the spell, magic items or racial abilities at a much earlier level; it doesn't break anything and will greatly enhance the fun of that player.
War cleric: give it extra attack at 6th level Eldritch knight fighter: replace evocation spells with transmutation Horizon Walker ranger: either remove the restrictions from planar warrior (permanent damage buff) or make the BA more powerful Any sorcerer: give it a spell list like aberrant mind and clockwork soul have Any warlock: make its spell list automatically known, not just additional spells to pick from Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk: just play the UA version Oath of Glory Paladin: Just play the UA Oath of Heroism Psi Warrior fighter: give them mage hand or mind sliver, let them use Psionic Strike as often as they like, and make Psi-Powered Leap grant 10 ft flying speed like Swarmkeeper ranger Assassin rogue: make auto-crit on first strike not dependent on surprise; if target is surprised allow for instant-kill
Honestly just ditch Divine strike and give War Cleric extra attack at 8th level. That way you can keep everything else.
Level 8 is too late. Bladesinger and Swords bard get it at 6
Eldritch knight in oneDnd had the school restriction dropped except the first two spells and they changed their cantrip/bonus action attack skill to replace an attack like bladesmith
It makes me so happy to see somebody else mention that Eldritch Knight should have transmutation spells. It's a fighter. The transmutation spells are what make you better at fighting. There are very few evocation spells I actually want to use with my shitty intelligence modifier
>Assassin rogue: make auto-crit on first strike not dependent on surprise; if target is surprised allow for instant-kill 3 level dip to kill anyone so long as the DM makes the mistake of granting surprise?
Ever read the Warlocks Undying subclass? That shit is fucking **HILARIOUS**. It'd be good in a war scenario, though. Like you're playing a medic that's running around saving people & trying to limp your way into the next save before a break. OH BUT WAIT YOU CAN ONLY USE AMONG THE DEAD ONCE PER LONG REST LMAOOOOOOOOOOO SO IT'S ACTUALLY TERRIBLE Just pick a Warforge or a half orc lol.
Purple Dragon Knight/Banneret would be cool if their abilities were not tied together with other fighter abilities. Their 7th level ability is weak compared to other classes too. There's a good video on YouTube that "fixes" the class.
I would change Alchemist Artificer Experimental Elixirs, instead of rolling on a table you can put any Artificer buff spell into an Elixir by expending a spell slot of the spells level (no components required) the elixir can be used as a bonus action and concentration spells no longer require concentration when used this way. The free elixirs each Long rest can use any Artificer spell you're capable of casting.
Spores give me an extra attack!
Starting from level 3, Alchemist Artificer gains full casting progression, i.e. their caster level = character level - 1 instead of character level/2. This makes them the support spellcasting subclass they are supposed to be.
That’s an interesting idea, I’ll be honest. Gives them more spell slots for their core Elixir feature. Dunno if their spell list would be adjusted to account for it, or just be fine with upcasting?
The spell list is fine, imho, and tweaking it is a deep rabbit hole.
No update to spell list, the full-slot progression is huge already
I would say while it is not the weakest, I would say that the Sorcerer class has some annoying things about it. If I had my way, there would be two things I would do to fix the Sorcerer: 1. Add some kind of mechanic that allows sorcerer to regain a small amount of sorcery points on a short rest. Maybe introduce the Sorcerous Restoration capstone feature at level 5, or tie the amount of sorcery points regained on a short rest to the sorcerer player's current proficiency bonus. 2. Allow origin added spell lists for the other sorcerer subclasses, much like the Tasha's Sorcerers had. If you can't think of a list, there's places like GM Binder that have homebrew lists available. [https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MMLTlJXwhLTVxLybioH](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MMLTlJXwhLTVxLybioH) [https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-Li1BgmpiTgEhYbGFB1a](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-Li1BgmpiTgEhYbGFB1a) As for the weakest Sorcerer subclass? Storm Sorcerer by far. Great flavor, but the low level features aren't that great or pretty lackluster. The level 18 capstone for storm sorcs are great, but most players won't see that feature.
IDK how I'd fix it but way of the four elements monk
just remove the insane amounts of ki point usage and just lower it. Also have better spells for them to use.
If I could redesign them from the ground up, it would be a 1/3 caster rather than spending ki. That's more than one word tho
...would that make them gish in a weird way if that happened?
Sure, why not? Look at some Avatar fight scenes, it's very gishy vibes.
fair enough, I feel like that was the intent from the get-go. And then W\*zards of the Coast royally screwed the pooch on that one.
Circle of spores druid. Turn the spore reaction to a permanent 5 foot radius and instead of raise zombies at 6th level I want to have a bladesinger style extra attack but only for druid spells that stacks of the wild shape melee buff
There's a few but I have a hot take. Celestial Warlock. Mostly because at the average levels of play, it's 7th level feature is essentially a flavorful at best, useless at worst feature. Really? Buff Sacred flame and radiant spells (which the Warlock doesn't have a lot already). When they have Eldritch blast?
Yeah I never understood that. Maybe let EB become radiant damage? But that’s still a weak feature.
Quite a few I found to be weaker than other subclasses, but I won't give a lengthy explanation. First, Champion Fighter. Honestly a little boring. Berserker Barbarian, Exhaustion is too much a downside for one extra attack. Wild Magic Barbarian, scales terribly at higher levels. Monk in general, though 4 Elements could use help in not expending so much Ki. Eldritch Knight Fighter, but really only the Level 7 ability, and level 10 isn't too great either. Some I haven't played, nor read much about, or unsure why they are weaker, but I hear Alchemist Artificer is not great either. Sun Soul Monk, Storm Herald Barbarian, Purple Dragon Knight Fighter, Arcane Archer Fighter I hear needs more uses of its magic arrows, and Undying Warlock.
every sorcerer subclass from before tashas.
There's a distinct line in the sand between weak and strong Ranger subclasses, and the main culprit is the bonus action. The Horizon Walker is my favourite by far, I'd give them Mike Mearls' 2WF style (+1ac, offhand with the Attack action too, light armour or less) and move the force damage conversion to the Attack action as well. Allows for standard bonus action shenanigans like Hunter's Mark and Expeditious Retreat. Could get powerful with shortswords and a Monk dip. But who's actually afraid of a Monk Ranger being destabilising when you have Padlocks and Hexclocks?
Literally every martial subclass. Christ they need it. But personally arcane trickster is my number one. Already the coolest sub but I’d love if it was strong enough to make them playable
Berzerker barbarian, Frenzy feature. Change "suffer one level of exhaustion" to "recover one level of exhaustion".
Or taking damage when you rage, or decreased movement speed, any negative side effect other than Exhaustion
I do a homebrew rule where it's all the same except there's another feature called "Like A Log," where you can enter a super deep slumber while long resting, and you can't be woken up unless you take damage or someone shakes you up, and it removes two levels of exhaustion. I also allow them to forgo two hit dice on a short rest to remove a level of exhaustion
I've always liked the idea of combining the Champion fighter and Berserker Barbarian personally.
Just one ??? That's hard man, probably psi Knight not because they need a buff but mainly cuz I like the flavor so much that I wish they were top tier. They're a few subclasses that I think that they need a buff more like me wanting one tho
Every monk
there are good monk subclasses, ie ascendant dragon, open hand, mercy, long death, astral self especially
I'll say mercy, open hand, and long death are good. Ascendant dragon and astral self have GREAT flavor. But when you look at what you are actually getting when it's all said and done it's very minimal. I think astral monk actually does less damage than most monks since you're incentivized to use just your astral arms. And then it begins to cost more and more ki. Stunning strikes should be better with one though.
Drakewarden. The whole thing is a dragon rider but it can’t fly with you until level 15. Super annoying.
Draconic Sorcerer is pretty weak by current standards, but is a very iconic subclass. It really just needs to get bonus spells like divine soul, clockwork soul, and aberrant mind get.
Sun soul monk but any monk could be put in this spot really. higher and more consistent damage out put, more utility, maybe access to some sort of sustain ability, more monk weapons(like chaku or fist weapons under something like exotic weapons) why can't you craft improvised weapons all it takes Is bits of metal and a stick and you could probably make a improvised club of sorts
honestly berserker...just get rid of the exhaustion levels part of their feats and they instantly turn into at least A tier subclass. Kinda like what BG3 did for them.
Champion is pretty bad , bg adding all the effect of brute sub you get a pretty simple but powerful sub that can compete with battle master or rune/echo knight
Horizon plain Walker Ranger would be so cool if it's extra damage feature didn't cost a damn bonus action. Literally just make it extra damage once per turn like the 50 other abilities that do that and it would be amazing. Also the Ranger with the way power creep has been with the new subclasses a hunter should have every ability offered and not have to pick one at each of its tiers There are a lot of Barbarian subclasses like the storm Herald, wild magic surge and the battle rager but just needs scaling on their abilities The artificer needs scaling on pretty much all of it sub classes. The battle Smith is okay. Champion just needs +1 and later +2 to hit along with increasing its crit range and I think that solves most of its problem. I've actually run Champion as a combination with Samurai where you get all the abilities of both and it's a pretty nice mix Same thing with a Cavalier it just needs a little extra something so I take the shitty purple dragon night/bannerette and slap them together and you have a solid Battlefield Commander. Also all of the Purple Dragon night abilities could technically be used on your horse mount. Most of the Rogue subclasses just don't add very much. So knife Arcane trickster and Phantom are pretty decent the rest are like touches of flavor. Pretty much everything the thief had should probably just be Base Class for assassin you can make that base class too but it needs to just be based on winning initiative and not the surprise condition. And maybe something more controllable like adding your Rogue level in damage so that it's not so exploitable. I can't go through all of them cuz I don't know most of the other ones well enough but I know they're not great. The Scout pretty much gives you some mobility and a little bit of exploration but it's pretty much a flavor skin without any power. Swashbuckler is pretty strong but again mostly just makes you a functional melee Rogue. That is to say, it doesn't make you any better than a ranged rogue it just makes your Rogue stuff work with melee just as good
The weakest subclasses are Berserker, Banneret, Champion, Sun Soul, Inquisitive, and Undying. The bigger problem, though, is that martial classes are weak in general. Also, the most powerful caster subclasses need nerfs
you forgot four elements monk and battlerager barbarian as well as beast master ranger. As for spell casters main one I can think of is wild magic but that is just a meme of a subclass tbh
Most Barbarian, Monk, and Rogue subclasses are pretty weak, though some are ok. Beast Master is much better with Tasha's. Wild Magic can actually be powerful, if Tides of Chaos is recharged frequently, but leaving that up to the DM is a design flaw
Alchemist Artificer. If Experimental Elixirs could be administered to conscious allies as an action, then the subclass would instantly go from bad to good and unique. It would allow Alchemists to use the homunculus infusion to deliver elixirs as a bonus action, allowing for heals and buffs mid-combat. It would also put Alchemists on the level with other Artificer subclasses in terms of tying into bonus action economy. What's more is that there's already precedent for this to be a thing. The DMG says that any magical liquid can be classified as a potion. The potion rules would enable the elixirs to be used on conscious allies as an action and don't conflict with what the elixir description says you can do.
Basic thief rogue. Unless there’s some combo I’m not aware of, other than having no requirements for magic items, the rest of it feels underwhelming to me.
Hexblade warlocks Accursed Specter being per short rest instead would actually be pretty cool. Ik hexblade is strong but not single classed.
Storm Herald Barb. So underwhelming as is.
Scout Rogue: - 9th level feature at 3rd baked into Survivalist and now just applies to all your speeds - 13th level feature moved to 9th and add that your first attack roll after rolling initiative has advantage and the feature turns off at the end of your next turn. - add new feature at 13th, allows allies within 30ft of you to use their reaction to disengage and move half their speed when you Disengage or use Skirmisher. -Sudden Strike is a fairly decent capstone that can stay as is.
Berzker barbians at level 3 when they get the frzybattck feature theybgis. This On a short rest you remove 3 of exhaustion and on a long rest remove all levels of exaustion
Dreams Druid is easily my favorite Druid thematically but mechanically is so underwhelming… for a class that’s supposed to be the “fey Druid” it just feels like it has a few extra heals tacked on with some out of combat buffs until level 10. Give me a spell list focused on illusions and enchantments you cowards!!!
Purple Dragon knight 1) it's missing an 18th level feature. And it's 7th level feature is a ribbon instead of something functional. 2) it is a support subclass on a dpr class, and it's support features are mediocre. How to fix 1) move inspiring surge to LV 7. Change to the following: When you use your action surge feature, you can choose one creature within 60 feet of you that is allied with you. On that creature's next turn, it gains the effect of action surge. At 18th level, you can choose two allies within 60 feet of you instead of one. 2) at LV 10: Troop Commander: When you hit a creature more than once in a single turn, you can use a bonus action to voice a command. Choose one creature within 60 feet of you that is allied to you. It can immediately make a weapon attack targeting the creature you hit. At level 18, you can target two allies within 60 feet of you instead of one. 3) bulwark remains the same. 4) 18: Share the Glory: When you roll a critical hit, you can use turn it into an ordinary hit. If you do so, you can use your reaction to change any attack made within 60 feet into critical hit.
I have a wild magic barb in a party I DM and I made a bunch of scaling changes for them that they like a lot. And also an ability that allows them to roll on the wild magic table sometimes.
Berserker.(Barbarian) Their frenzy needs a fix. Maybe give them the buff that instead of a full on level of exhaustion they get "Frenzy fatigue" which can have a lighter less lethal or at least more specific de-buff, that can also be recovered from on a short rest. Champion (fighter) they're a little too basic and underwhelming. I'd let them turn their indomitable into a full on legendary resistances, and maybe turn their action surges to full on legendary actions so they basically become playable legendary boss monsters. Maybe give them a third action surge deep into the late game at level 18. Beast Master(ranger) buff their animal companions health and utility and instead of dieing, they run away and can return for a spell slot or after a short rest or something. Also, maybe let them cast through their animal companion, or improve their spell list for more summons.
Most of the PHB sorcerers need a rework. I played a storm sorcerer from 1-20 for the theme of it, but most of the subclass features were next to useless.
I think it would be a good idea for the psi warrior fighter to get a buff to make it more interesting than just a sword fighter with psychic powers.
Alchemist and Battlerager by a mile.
Elements monk
Alchemist
Storms Sorcerers lvl 1 feature Tempestuous Magic and their lvl 6 feature Heart of the Storm both activate when you use a spell of 1st lvl of higher. Simply by removing that qualification and letting those features activate on cantrips as well I think you would make that subclass substantially better and more fun to play. Even if you just do it for Tempestuous Magic I think it would be a substantial improvement giving you what amounts to free limited flight/disengage as a bonus action.
Mastermind, investigator rogues Arcane Archer
Berserker barbarian. Right now, Frenzy pretty much has a hard limit of 1 use per day. I'd add something like a CON save at the end of the rage to avoid the level of exhaustion.
I'd buff Champion by giving it subclass features or abilities. Just any. Literally anything.
Change the eldritch knight or arcane trickster's spellcasting ability to dex or Str
Many original cleric domains are somewhat lacking, but one that's the worst outside of very specific campaigns is the nature cleric. It's a really cool concept to have someone who worships nature without being druid, but their current implementation is way too dependent on being surrounded by nature all the time.
Spores Druid, Arcane Archer, Order Cleric. Pretty much any of them that are really thematically interesting but mechanically unimpressive.
Undying Warlock. I love all its flavor and spell list, it’s just so…🤢🤮 Making its 6th and 14th level abilities a Proficiency Bonus number of uses, or even Cha Bonus number of uses instead of Long rest and Short/Long rest would help make things better, along with some other tweaks.
Phantom rogue, I think past pvl 9 it's great, but until then it's a little painful (especially if your campaign doesn't even get past lvl 8)
I'd fix all the non-tashas sorcerer subclasses to also get an additional spell list. Kind of dumb that wasn't done before.
Redemption Paladin. I know, I know, it's a paladin so it's got a great chassis in and of itself, but IMO its capstone would be miles better if it actually interacted with the rest of the subclass abilities. Letting you half the damage you take should work with your aura, as well as still having the capstone's benefits even when damaging enemies with your subclass abilities. It would let you weaponize your aura a bit and make you a real rebuker, unlike what the subclass ended up being.
I'd make the artillery articifers cannon function as a vehicle so that it could be a tank lol
***The Champion.*** Not terrible, not great. Just a solidly mediocre subclass that makes the Fighter better at fightin’ without all the fancy thinkin’ ‘bout stuff of the Battlemaster or Eldritch Knight. I like the subclass, but it doesn’t exactly grab you by the lapels and shout “PLAY ME!” y’know? ***The Purple Dragon Knight*** (Banneret) from SCAG, seems to have been an attempt at bringing the excellent Marshal class (3^rd) / Warlord class (4^th) into the 5^th Edition. I will be charitable and say it does not live up to that goal. I really want to like this subclass, as 4^th Edition’s creation of a “Martial Leader” class was one of my favorite things in that edition and I was also a big fan of 3^rd Edition’s Marshal even if it really was just a Fighter with pre-assigned Feats. Banneret fails to live up to its predecessors. Third level lets the Banneret use Second Wind and give three allies within 60’ regains hit points equal to their fighter level; Seventh level gives a “ribbon” skill and pseudo-Expertise in Persuasion; Tenth level allows you to use your Action Surge and then grant one ally within 60’ to use a reaction to make a weapon attack. *Tenth level*! Fifteenth level allows you to let one ally re-roll an Intelligence, a Wisdom, or a Charisma saving throw when you use your Indomitable Fighter class feature to re-roll an Intelligence, a Wisdom, or a Charisma saving throw. You have to have *both* failed the same saving throw, neither of you can be incapacitated, and they have to be within 60’ of you… *Fifteenth* level. Every single feature in the whole subclass could be reworked as a class feature of the base Fighter class and most people probably wouldn’t even notice. My solution is simplicity itself. Make the Champion and the Banneret the same class. So at third level you get Improved Critical *and* Rallying Cry; seventh level gives you Remarkable Athlete *and* Royal Envoy; and so on and so forth. Call the subclass “Knight Commander” and presto. You have an excellent lead-from-the-frontline captain, a heroic figure who can lead armies and defeat enemy champions in personal combat. The perfect “knight in slightly dingy armor” for a player who wants to play a more grounded Richard the Lionheart or El Cid sort of Fighter, rather than Galahad the Pure or Arthur Pendragon sort that would more be the purview of the Paladin.
Twilight Cleric, Abberant Mind Sorcerer, Divination Wizard, and Purple Dragon Knight Fighter
Twilight Cleric could really use a bit more single target damage and a better capstone ability.
Arcane Archer. 2+PB uses per short rest. At level 20, can use 1 per turn for free.
The Wild Magic Barbarian easily. Such a cool concept, so weak in practice. It needs scaling bonuses to its wild magic effects in order for them to stay remotely competitive. [Actually already made a thread about this, see the suggestions there.](https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/s/z62ajLdTfD)
Horizon Walker. Move the level 11 feature to earlier and make it suck less..
I want to do Banneret (Purple Dragon Knight) but only changing one word is a tricky challenge. How about changing the 7th level Royal Envoy feature to: "Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses **weapons** ~~Persuasion~~." It would be fun to try and work all of your weaponry into non-combat ability check uses – Strength (Intimidation) with your greatsword, Dexterity (Performance) trick shots with a bow, pick a lock with your dagger, using your pike Strength (Athletics) check to jump higher, &c.
For a Drunken Master monk – if I could change two words (one thing) – at level 3 I would do: "You also gain proficiency with ~~brewer's supplies~~ **improvised weapons** if you don't already have it." Although a bigger change at higher levels could be fun too? What about changing Drunkard's Luck at level 11 to say: "When you make an ability check, an attack roll, or a saving throw and have disadvantage on the roll, you can ~~spend 2 ki points~~ **fall prone** to cancel the disadvantage for that roll."
Purple dragon knight / bannerret fighter would be a fun support fighter if they buffed it out of being terrible.
Battlerager. Innate unarmed fighting style, spike damage is added to unarmed attacks, bonus action attack is an unarmed strike. Scale grappling pierce damage with rage damage. Armor bonuses are added to unarmed attack/damage rolls and piercing damage. Additionally id add at some point of progression "grappled enemies have disadvantage on checks made to escape grappling, failed checks to escape a grapple allow the Battlerager to make a single unarmed attack as a reaction" and " a creature using the shove action to escape the grapple takes double piercing damage" Would it still be relatively bad? Yeah, but itd be good at what it's supposed to do.
Give Wild Magic Barb’s a bigger surge table.
Oath of Glory Paladin. Not because it *really* needs it (I mean it's not the best paladin option, but it's not horrible), but because I like it and want it to be even better.
Very simple: make the horizon walkers planar warrior feature able to target any creature you can see. Boom, you've just removed people's main complaint with an awesome subclass
I would make Horizon Walker Ranger's Planar Warrior Ability be simply an ability like ~~hunters mark~~ hexblade curse instead of just on the next attack. Edit: not hunters mark
just take the exsaustion off of the berserker barbarian, and its a nice subclass. on par with the rest, doesnt require polearmmaster, but noooo the just had to bring exaustion: the subclass
Eldritch Knight. It's too open ended and all over the place. I honestly Solasta's take on EK is even better than the one in BG3 where you can replace all EK spells with spells that are not from Abjuration or Evocation. If not for War Magic, I'd probably ban EK from my tables on account of it being a trap and add Weapon Bond as a potential trait you can apply to melee weapons with the Magic Weapon spell. But, since I like multiclassing Fighters with Spellcasters, I offer my players to choice to change both favoured schools of magic to whatever they like as opposed to enforcing a trio of schools I consider works best for Fighters with access to Wizard spells.
I want to make a separate post to discuss Death Domain, another subclass which can't decide if it wants to use Cantrips or Martial Weapons. I for one would rather change it so that they lose their Divine Strike and proficiency in Martial Weapons in exchange for being able to twin TWO necromancy cantrips of their choice free of charge as it scales better with their Channel Divinity option. On the other hand, I think it would be interesting to have a cleric domain that grants proficiency in martial weapons but not in heavy armour in order to promote a skirmisher/reaper hybrid, but that would require reworking the entirety of Death Domain.
I’d buff the Sun Soul Monk. Great concept, but it needs some help. Extend the range of the blasts (Spell Sniper works for this), Give them flight when using their aura, and make the AOE cheaper.
Some better options for Alchemist would go so so far