Biggest issue is it expects you to keep using a 1st level concentration spell at level 20. They need to get off trying to make hunters mark in it's current state a thing
The Stunning Strike Nerf is a good thing. Damages appear to be reasonable:
2d6 + 2DEX at level 1
2d6 + 2DEX any number of times at level 2
3d6 + 3DEX twice a short rest at level 2
4d8 + 4DEX five times a short rest at level 5
(changes to Force - the least resisted damage type in 5E at level 6, as an option)
4d10 +4DEX eleven times a short rest at level 11
4D12 + 4DEX seventeen times a short rest at level 17
These assume you're using Discipline for Flurry of Blows, which isn't always possible. They also assume a 100% hit rate, but what's fantastic on all these also is that it's multiple attack rolls. It is possible, but unlikely, you'll miss all the attacks. You have a really good chance of getting at least one nat 20 in your rolls. I usually prefer multiple attack rolls.
Also, for the first 5 levels - you can snag a D8 Simple Weapon (most simples are D6 or lower, none are above a D8) to improve damage, and you can opt for the mastery attack and effect that goes with it - and you can change masteries at a long rest.
And note, these aren't counting using various feats to get bonus damage, buffs, etc. I would argue that I think overall there are not enough Discipline points before around level 8-10 and there are too many after level 16 or so. But that's just me (since it's a short rest resource, and given the change to stunning strike, it seems less likely that you'd ever need 20 points)
And this keeps in mind you can still layer an Eldritch Claw Tatoo, for example, on top of these damages. This likely wants the same change as other current abilities (one bonus damage a round, versus one bonus damage a hit), but used as written right now - it would add a d6 to each hit and increase reach to 15'. But I mean, we'll be seeing those items in games for years to come - and it seems unlikely all current magic items will be absorbed into the DMG.
That is pretty good actually! Though I can see some Monks disliking that they have to optimally use a weapon and not stay unarmed. Cool for a ninja-themed Shadow Monk though.
Each night, you can pick two simple weapons to master. A dagger is a simple weapon. It also uses your martial arts die for damage, just as it would today for Dedicated Weapon or Kensai.
Here is Nick:
When you make the extra attack of the Light property, you can make it as part of the Attack action, instead of as a Bonus Action. You can still make this extra attack only once per turn.
At level 1, there is a bonus unarmed attack on Monk - since that is not the Light property on a Weapon, that bonus unarmed attack can still be used. Flurry of Blows is also not the Light property on a weapon, and so it'd also be open - assuming you took Two-Weapon Fighting, you would make that attack with your ability modifier and your martial arts die.
And so that would increase all the numbers by the martial arts die, and then by the attribute modifier as well if you had two-weapon fighting. This would put it very much comparable to the Warlock Baseline that was recently posted here.
A friend once told me, it was for Xcom and EverQuest back in the day, that there's a secret in all games. I will share his wisdom. "When you don't hit, things don't die." So, if you're looking at anything that improves a hit rate - it will tend to improve your damage over time more than something that merely improves damage, unless the damage boost is ridiculously overpowered.
To me, this is the principal behind a lot of high damage builds - of any class - the principal of "my attack bonus is high, and I roll the die many times." And that's because consider Disintegrate, for example. It is a great spell - it does a lot of damage. But it is all or nothing - either the spell gets you or it doesn't. Again - it's a great spell, but either it works or it doesn't - and if it doesn't you deal none of that damage and may not have the spell slots to try again.
If you look at the Monk - there's another thing to consider here, which is stunning strike.
When a creature is stunned, you get advantage on attacks and prevent it from doing anything, so you can attack.
A dagger is a simple weapon. It also uses your martial arts die for damage, just as it would today for Dedicated Weapon or Kensai.
Actually, new monk loses the ability to use their martial arts die in place of a weapon's damage.
New Monk:
Martial Arts Die. You can roll a d6 in place of the normal damage of your Unarmed Strike. This die changes as you gain Monk levels, as shown in the Martial Arts column of the Monk table
Old monk:
When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. For example, if you take the Attack action and attack with a quarterstaff, you can also make an unarmed strike as a bonus action, assuming you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn.
So, you're doing D6+D6 from dagger, martial arts from your other attack (unarmed), then flurry - and so it lowers the dice at higher levels - but it remains good. Also, you're making up this damage from Empowered Strike - for example - as a subclass feature. It does make it so that, particularly at higher levels, unarmed is better - but unarmed is going to be better (generally) anyway because force damage isn't resisted.
So, you're trailing by one when the die changes to D8, trailing by two when it changes to D10, and by three when it changes to D12 - on average. However, you're gaining your ability modifier an additional time - which will counter that average reduction. And it's an extra hit roll, sending down your chance not to cause damage at all.
Yes, except dagger damage is d4, and to to get Two Weapon Fighting to add your ability modifier, you’ll have to multi-class to get the Fighting Style feature. The feat now has that as a prerequisite in this UA.
I want WotC to just finally admit that Barbarian and Monk need more ASIs. The capstone works for Barbarian because it fits the theme (bring back infinite rages btw), but for Monk it just stinks of having no ideas. They already know that Barbarian needs a shield for their AC because they have to invest in STR instead of DEX, they already know Barbarian needs advantage/bonuses to DEX saves, Acrobatics, Stealth, and Initiative. They know that Monk needs to use DEX for their weapon attacks because they have to invest in DEX instead of STR, they already know Monk needs BA Dash/Disengage, the ability to Deflect and apply Evasion to not just ranged but also melee and AoE damage, spending Ki/Discipline points to get Temporary HP/heal, have proficiency in all saves and resistance to all non-Force damage, all just to mitigate the fact their d8 Hit Dice won’t have CON investment due to needing WIS focus for AC/DC. All of that being said: I like a lot of these changes.
Barbarian: Regaining 1 Rage on SR really helps this martial class, it was super weird that their core class feature was tied to LR. Brutal Critical no longer being tied to 5% crits is great, and having pseudo maneuvers is nice too, though I’d honestly prefer it not require forgoing Reckless Attack’s Advantage to get the damage. On paper it effectively translates to: “Reckless Attack has a new option, instead of advantage, you get +1d10 damage for the same downside,” and I’m not sure that feels like a good trade. If they’re scared of GWM (which is surprising since lmao caster ASI progression) just have it apply 1/turn or as additional damage when you crit. Aside from that, while calling each effect “X blow” hurts my soul, I like all of the options. Persistent Rage, as mentioned, smells like they didn’t like infinite Rage and wanted to nerf it for squeezing it into a Level 15 feature that was already pretty good. Primal Champion buff to 24 to 26 is just silly. They only get one Level 19 ASI that lets them go up to 22, so it’s only going to apply to one of them. I’ve already made my statement on ASIs. World Tree subclass never gelled with me as while it doesn’t seem to have a strategy like other Barbs do. Still, new Branches as a single-target denial tool now sounds nuts to me, just STR save or you have no movement for the turn as you’re Mortal Kombat Scorpion’d right to the Barbarian. But then you have Battering Roots for… I guess when the STR save fails and your 40ft+ speed Barbarian is having trouble reaching the target, and then the ability to teleport to be EXTRA sure?
Druid: There’s not really much to touch on for the core class changes; Wild Shape is worded in a way that’s understandable. Moon Druid though, they not only get rules clarification, they get new spells!
Starry Wisp Faerie Fire as a cantrip that doesn’t grant advantage, Bards can do it too. I like it. Fount of Moonlight I guess this is like anti-Shadow of Moil? You get a smaller Daylight (not Sunlight), Radiant resistance and damage, and can Blind as a reaction. Also usable by Bards… most of these spell can be used by Bards actually. I think WotC has been tapping my friend’s Discord server. Biggest change besides that is Max CR is back down to Level 3, fine, and Lunar Form does extra damage instead of scooting Moonbeam around. Pretty okay.
Monk: Ah, the big one that everyone’s been gushing about. BA Unarmed Strike being untethered from Ki or Attack actions is QoL that many have asked for. RIP Weapon Mastery, but with all the new stuff they get, they had to cut something to let Fighter not get power-crept. DEX on Grapple/Shoves appeals to my inner Rey Mysterio fanboy. Patient Defense and Step of the Wind buffs, watch out Rogues! Now Monk doesn’t need to spend Ki to Dash or Disengage, and if they do they get both! Or at least Disengage + Dodge. Level 10 also buffs these further: Flurry gets 3 attacks instead of 2; Patient Defense gives you Temp HP; Step of the Wind lets you carry someone! I love all of these. Free Ki Points at level 2! It’s 1/LR and honestly that’s plenty. Deflect Missiles is now Deflect Rage Damage Types! Also adds your DEX to damage on top of 2Dkarate. Level 13 lets you smack away non-weapons too, pretty spicy. Stunning Strike gets a buff, on a success they still take Force damage. I think this is a very fair compromise. The anti-Charm/nonsense effect being free at the end of your turn is also a good compromise for making Stillness of Mind a Level 10 feature, and helps wave away how people are willingly ending things like Charm effects. No more Poison Damage immunity, but it’s only a big loss if you keep running into poison. Perfect Discipline being 3 or lower instead of 0 is good, prevents people from feeling like they need to Step of the Wind a few times before the next fight just to go from 2 to 0 to 4. The anime-tier, yet admittedly cool Defy Death capstone is now replaced with more Barbarian plagiarism, Primal Champion for DEX/WIS instead of STR/CON, see above. Subclass time~ Only removing Opportunity Attacks instead of Reactions is fine since Counterspell isn’t ass-busted anymore. I still wish Shield would be nerfed to +2 until your turn (you know, like a shield, maybe upcast scaling if you miss Tarrasque HP Wizards that much), but fight is as fight does. Fleet Step with the buffs to Step of the Wind makes Monk into a god damned rocket at Level 11 that only gets faster. It does NOT say when you spend a point, this works on any BA. This’ll work on BA self-applied potions, BA unarmed strikes/Flurry of Blows, just Dash + Disengage + carrying a friend, forever. Why is no one talking about this? Even if you still have to pay the 1 point for it again, it’s still a huge shot in the arm for mobility. Quivering Palm is “nerfed” back down to 4 points for a flat 10d12 damage, no monk level. Upside, it only uses one attack to end the effect instead of a full action, so you can apply it in a brawl without having to spend a whole turn standing still saying the Kenshiro line.
Other spells: Conjure spells are a single body that’s a swarm via flavor. DMs, rejoice! (Mass) Cure Wounds is buffed, hooray! I sure appreciate WotC recognizing that the melee healing needs something to give it an edge agai- WHY DID THEY BUFF HEALING WORD?! Who asked for this? By what means has WotC come to the idea that Healing Word is somehow not horribly problematic in regards to nigh-effortlessly preventing 0HP from happening? I’d understand it if they stole my idea for having HW only apply to creatures that can hear you (ergo, not Unconscious), but this is just a flat buff to make it almost objectively better than pre-buff Cure Wounds. Power Word: Fortify is nice I guess. 20-120 Temp HP/target is enough to last at least a turn, hopefully?
All in all, this one is getting a bookmark in my “has lots of good ideas to work on” folder. Very satisfied with the changes, and I can fit them into how to solve my remaining gripes very easily.
And once again, Unarmed Strikes can heal if you’re weak enough:
Damage. You make an attack roll against the target. Your bonus to hit equals your Strength modifier + your Proficiency Bonus. On a hit, the target takes Bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier.
Dextrous Attacks. You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your Unarmed Strikes and Monk Weapons. In addition, when you choose the Grapple or Shove option, you can use your Dexterity modifier instead of Strength to determine the saving throw DC.
I don’t see what that has to do with the omission of the “minimum 0” (or 1) from the general description of unarmed strikes that hypothetically could mean doing negative damage.
As new general rules on damage rolls do not appear in the document, the rules on p.196 of the 2014 PHB would still apply, which is where 5e specifies that you can’t deal negative damage (be it with an attack, spell, or any other damage dealing mechanic).
Thanks! I don’t have my PHB on me (traveling for the holidays), but I was pretty certain that DnD had a “0 damage is not damage” and “negative damage is treated as 0” sort of rule, similar to Magic.
I see them recommend “six to eight” Bastion turns for each character level and it gives me 'Nam flashbacks to every argument over why random combat is broken because modern tables don’t have the time to run a full adventuring day of combats anymore. This is in the same breath that they’re saying that character levels, going off of exponential XP requirements, should take roughly the same amount of in-game time to accomplish? Nay says I. Let’s see, free magic items if the DM says yes, how incredibly Monty Haul of WotC. 100 Points for a free revive, how incredibly mobile game of WotC! I can smell the “under-monetized” quotes hovering around the VTT already. All in all, how I feel about the Bastion system is how I feel about all of the UA playtests: a good springboard for better ideas, a neat guide for a DM that doesn’t have the better mechanics converted from a previous edition, and a whole lot of bad ideas that smell like they read too many Reddit posts instead of playtesting any of the mechanics. I still remember Jump Action stuck around for way too long.
As for the cantrips, they’re hit and miss. Generally speaking: approve of Acid Splash, Blade Ward, Friends, and Produce Flame; disapprove of Shillelagh and True Strike; don’t entirely understand the changes to the rest. Why is Poison Spray suddenly a Necromancy cantrip besides “poison bad?” I can see removing Chill Touch’s range or anti-undead capabilities, but not both (also, normalize Necromancy spells being disruptive to undead). Shillelagh scaling better than Monk’s Martial Arts Die on top of using a spell mod for hit/dmg is mean. I liked using Shocking Grasp to preemptively stop reactions, since it was one of the few non-Counterspell outs to Counterspell/Shield/Silvery Barbs, and taking away metal advantage makes it feel so plain and makes it worse at hitting exactly what it wants to hit: metal-plated martials that are good at Opportunity Attacks. Spare the Dying, as most cheap healing, was balanced by the fact it’s at touch-range, so having it increase in range when Healing Word still exists is just… grasping for QoL I guess? True Strike just isn’t True Strike anymore, and it’s weird that it’s giving every full-caster besides Cleric and redundant Druid a radiant-damage melee attack. It could have so easily been anything remotely similar to the original idea: a Bonus Action that made a target’s AC 10 + DEX for your next melee weapon attack as you go right for the part with no armor (Verbal component so no Stealth abuse); Reaction on a missed melee attack against you gives you a single auto-hit with a weapon on your next turn as you see the opening; an Action that a la SCAG attack cantrips includes a weapon attack but with magically-guided advantage. Literally anything more original than “Shillelagh but Radiant.”
After having a bit of time to stew over the bastion system, I’m not that excited by it.
My only major critique is the fact it generates specific magic items, 5e was designed around not giving players inherent access to specific items and some builds can get a little nuts once they’re added. Although artificers can generate them through their replicate magic item option, it’s still limited and requires investing into that class. Although sourcing a magic item can be done in downtime, that’s not as codified and easy as this is.
My main thoughts overall is that this just isn’t that exciting, oftentimes specific sourcebooks and adventures have a tertiary system such as the relationships in strixhaven, franchises in Acquisitions Incorporated or the dark gifts from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. A key reason that these don’t see wide adoption is that because by necessity they’re optional, the game is perfectly balanced to not need them. I think the only fix to this feeling is to have it more integrated through character options such as spells, feats and perhaps even a bastion specific subclass or two, but this content isn’t suited for the DMG and rather a bastion centric sourcebook. The other thing that could cement it is if a few major adventures across the lifetime of
A couple of other things on my mind is simply that I like that fact the bastion scales with level but I don’t love that it scales with time and gold. A 1-20 campaign can last anywhere from a month to a lifetime in the game, and the amount of gold that is rewarded is totally dependent on the campaign and the story, typically fighter may be able to afford full plate armor at level 6 but that’s not codified anywhere, while a monk kr barbarian’s AC scales naturally with leveling, not just is this one of those hiccups in 5e’s design but finances will be incredibly different in a bastion centric campaign. The paladin may need to choose between +1 armor and a better home while a monk will get both. I’d have like to have seen a system totally removed from time and money and pinned entirely to leveling.
None of these really matter too much to me, except maybe the magic items, as it could open the game to problematic builds which new DMs may not catch and stop, and otherwise these new rules are very new DM friendly which is nice to see.
I guess the key but is “A flickering flame appears in your hand… while there, the flame emits no heat”. But when thrown it does become hot enough to cause fire damage, but then is used up.
I definitely think in tier 1, casters will be better martials than martials with these changes. If they want to make all the spells cool and useful, fine, but I hope they see the obvious power creep they’re handing out to already-powerful classes.
Yeah, in tier 1, I can see what you mean. I haven’t read the actual text for the cantrip changes, so I can only go off of what’s described here. I’m not sure if the casters will be better martials than the martials themselves since they still lack the damage output, HP pools, and proficiencies of the martials, but it does make the casters seem better overall.
Friends almost just sounds better than Charm Person now for a lot of uses. Blade Ward might be just straight up too good as a reaction, even bordering on being as good as Shield. It essentially gives casters access to Uncanny Dodge. True Strike seems fine though, depending on how it scales. It’s still worse than just casting Fire Bolt in just about every case
The brawler fighter has one glaring oversight: it has no way to apply magic damage while using its class features. They promise to include magic items in the DMG that will allow them to do so (probably gauntlets, rings, etc…) but as it is, the class is essentially useless beyond level 5. Unless you find a magic beer bottle or something.
Warlocks are still gimped. While having Agonizing Blast and Eldritch Spear apply to any cantrip is a great change (edit: though there is a huge oversight still which makes Eldritch Blast still the optimal and obvious choice, namely that Agonizing Blast lets you add the charisma modifier to each damage roll, and at the cantrip improvement levels EB gains new damage rolls instead of extra damage dice like, say, fire bolt), they still lost their short rest spell recovery. If they could use the Magical Cunning PB/LR instead of 1/LR, that might be fair but as it is, a level 20 warlock has effectively 6 spell slots. And they can’t even claim that it was to get rid of the short rest because the wizard’s Arcane Recovery (which at level 20 can restore effectively the same amount and level of spell slots as the warlock’s Magical Cunning, btw.) is still tied to it. (Also, while there are many Eldritch Invocations that give warlocks a free utility spell, the wizard’s level 18 feature effectively gives them two of these for free, and they get to select any spell.)
Looking at it more, I don’t actually think agonizing blast is an oversight - warlocks don’t get enough slots or spells known to always be slinging spells in combats like true full casters. Agonizing blast puts their default attack option, which they should be relying on a lot of the time if they’re not a bladelock which would also add CHA modifier, on par with martial weaponry. Is it powerful? Yes, but it still costs an invocation.
The problem isn’t the power level, it’s that they’re adding a choice about which cantrip to use, and then at 5th level effectively taking away that choice by making Eldritch Blast the obviously best option.
If Agonizing Blast added your Cha mod to all your Warlock cantrips, it’d still have some marginal flexibility in cantrip choice, like if there’s a weakness to exploit or if your target is one on the like 5 creatures that resists or is immune to Force damage, but because you lock in your choice on level-up, it’s just a “choice” where you always choose Eldritch Blast.
I figure that AB and EB should just be things Warlocks get via progression at 1 and 6-8 respectively, free up a cantrip and evocation slot and line up the +MOD to cantrip damage with Clerics getting the same or Evocation Wizards getting half damage on save cantrips and make Warlocks have to work to be Magical Ranged Fighters™. Not that I entirely think Warlocks need more invocations at this point, WotC has been pretty good about fixing them up for value so you can take sub-par ones for value, but more wiggle room by providing something for free that everyone in the universe takes anyway would lead to a bit more build diversity.
I did some math to see how good Sorcerous Burst is on average, now that it’s a d8. Because these are averages, I’m only looking at additional bonus dice added from the base dice, because the chances of rolling a second round of bonus dice is so minuscule (even at lvl17) that they don’t affect the average damage significantly.
From levels 1-4, you roll 1d8 as a base, which means you have a 12.5% chance to roll one 8 and get a bonus damage dice. Each 1d8 has an average damage of 4.5, so your average damage is 4.5 + (12.5%)(4.5) = 5.06. That’s still less than a Firebolt’s average of 5.5, but you do get to change your damage type every turn AND you’re more likely to do 10 or more damage than a Firebolt (10% chance of 10 damage, vs (12.5%)(87.5%) = 10.9% chance of rolling an 8 and then at least a 2 to deal 10+ damage). At the same time, Sorcerous Burst is much more likely to do negligible damage than a Firebolt. A 5e goblin has 7 HP, for example. If you hit one with Firebolt, you have a 4/10 = 40% chance to deal at least enough damage to kill it with one shot from full health. If you hit one with Sorcerous Burst, however, you have a 2/8 = 25% chance to deal enough damage to kill them.
From levels 5-9, you roll 2d8, which gives you a 21.88% chance of rolling exactly one 8, and a 1.56% chance of rolling two 8s, for a total average damage of 10.13 (vs Firebolt’s 11). At lvl11, the average damage goes to 15.19 (vs 16.5), and at lvl17 it goes to 20.25 (vs 22). So it’s the same pattern at every level: Firebolt does more on average, but Sorcerous Burst has better chance to deal high damage, has a much higher potential damage cap, and its damage can be changed if damage type matters…while it also has a greater chance of doing a small amount of damage. It is, in short, a swingy and unpredictable spell, which is very thematic.
I think Sorcerous Burst is the right pick for a sorcerer looking for a damage-dealing cantrip. It’s not strictly better than Firebolt, and is more likely both to overkill its targets and to not deal enough damage when you need it to, but it’s also more likely to surprise you and deal way more damage than you thought it would. It’s also more likely to be useful as a damage-dealer in more situations, since you can change its damage type.
Oh good, they finally addressed how the “X Savant” (the wizard school discount feature) actually incentivizes you to not take spells of the appropriate school on level-up, and hope you find them as scrolls to copy them later. It actually does what it should do now: give you more spells of a particular school.
Also, Memorize Spell means that the wizard is now not only the best utility caster for rituals, they’re the best utility caster, period. Every weird, niche spell that could be useful but only if you happened to prepare it on the right day is now available to you with just a minute of prep time. That’s simply fantastic, I love it.
I like the idea of Studied Attacks…but at the same time, I don’t like how it makes it impossible to roll your 3-5 attacks at once, because the order of your attacks (and whether you hit or miss with a previous attack) matters.
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