Cleric / Druid / Wizard UA Released.

[Kane0]

I have a question about the Wildfire Druid's level 6 ability: Can you add that d8 to the ATTACK roll of a fire (or healing) spell, instead of the damage roll of a fire (or healing) spell? The ability says that you can add that d8 to "one roll", but doesn't specify which rolls that d8 can or can't be added to.

Can you choose which roll to add the d8 to after seeing the numbers and/or results for said rolls, or do you have to declare which roll the d8 is applying to before you roll?

Good catch, but I would wager they need to clean up the text to specify the damage/healing amount.

[Mikaleus]

I’m hoping to see a circle of storms where the wildshape is the Druid turning into a semi- elemental. Bit like a Fury Druid from Pillars of Eternity 2.

[Theodoxus]

I'm letting my druids have this ability, for free:

Elemental Summons

You can summon the primal spirit bound to your soul. As an action, you can expend one use of your Wild Shape feature to summon an elemental spirit, rather than assuming a beast form. The elemental spirit can be chosen from: Air, Earth, Fire or Water.
The spirit appears in an unoccupied space of your choice you can see within 30 feet of you. Each creature within 10 feet of the spirit (other than you) when it appears must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC or take 2d10 damage of the elemental type of the spirit:
The elemental spirit is friendly to you and your companions and obeys your commands. See this creature’s game statistics in the elemental spirit stat block. You determine the spirit’s appearance. Some spirits take the form of a humanoid figure, while others look like beasts.
In combat, the elemental spirit shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. The only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a minor action on your turn to command it to take one of the actions in its stat block or to take the Dash, Disengage, Help, or Hide action. The elemental spirit manifests for 1 hour; until it is reduced to 0 hit points; or until you use your Wild Shape again.
Elemental Spirit

Small elemental, any chaotic alignment

Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points equal to 2 + your Wisdom modifier + five times your druid level.
Speed 20 ft., 30 ft. fly (hover) for Air and Fire, 30 ft. swim for Water, 30 ft. burrow for Earth


STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
10 (+0) 14 (+2) 14 (+2) 13 (+1) 15 (+2) 11 (+0)

Saving Throws Dex +4, Con +4, Wis +4
Skills Nature +4
Damage Immunities Elemental damage of its type
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, grappled, prone, restrained
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages understands the languages you speak

Elemental Type	Damage Type
Air	Lightning
Earth	Acid
Fire	Fire
Water	Cold

Soul Bond. The following numbers increase by 1 when your proficiency bonus increases by 1: the spirit’s skill and saving throw bonuses above, the bonuses to hit and damage of its Elemental Attack, and the bonus to damage of its Destructive Teleportation.

Actions (Requires Your Bonus Action)

Elemental Attack Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 30 ft., one target you can see. Hit: 1d6 + 2 elemental damage.

Destructive Teleportation (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). The spirit and each willing creature of your choice within 5 feet of it teleport up to 6 squares to unoccupied spaces you can see. Each creature within 10 feet of the space that the spirit left must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC or take 1d6 + 2 elemental damage.

[Mortis_Elrod]

this whole ua has me excited. Alternate Wildshape use to me just makes so much sense, Spore druid set the right precedent. Wildire druid might be my go to druid from now on.

Twilight just sounds cool, and ive been wanting a darkness domain, or shadow doamin or night domain forever. Not sure if this is it but its pretty good either way. Could have been a druid circle but cleric works. I dont see a problem with infinite darkvision, or even sharing it with the party for short durations. Just because people can see in the underdark doesn't mean it isn't still dangerous.

Onomancy. Well if they were gonna bring back trunaming it would only make sense to shove it into the wizard. I wish there were more concrete ways to find the names of things, but i also wish truenames weren't so obvious. Sucks that you can't use your name snatching ability on alot of things that you really want it on. Bane/Bless is pretty good though and the defensive use of the wordmagic is great.

I don't mind the Wizard having ways to tinker with spells. I just wish they would release more metamagic options for the sorcerer like they do invocations for the warlock. That way the wizard could have cool things too in a subclass without people complaining about how that "the sorcerer's thing".

[sambojin]

Cue every character's backstory now definitely making their truename not be their normal name.

"How did you know that I'm actually called Jigglypuff the Super-Glutton!? Only my family would know that, and they're dead! Got eaten.... "

[Evaar]

I have to say, I prefer the flavor of true names being that it's a mystical and often unknown thing. You might not even know your own true name without consulting some supernatural force (a spell or creature, either way). That's generally how it was previously described in earlier lore: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/True_name (also see the old Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark expansion where this plays a major role)

They seem to instead be going for more of a Black Company approach, but I also don't care for the idea that if you identify too closely with a pseudonym, maybe THAT becomes your true name. That runs contrary to the Black Company flavor where Lady identifies primarily as Lady, and you have to dive deep into history and uncover all sorts of secrets to figure out her true name to seal her power. Eventually, you'd just call her Lady.

The idea of true names should allow for an obsessive Lich to spend hundreds of years burying any record of his true name, to the point that even he's forgotten what it is. But instead, if he does that, he's actually making the Namer's job easier because it turns out his true name is just whatever he's going by these days.

I think a better and more flavorful design is to expand the ability of the Namer to obtain true names of your average mook, since we want them to be able to use their Special Thing, but allow enemies to prepare in advance if they're afraid of having their Name known. Maybe Thought Shielding Rings are more common in a setting where your true name is a vulnerability. Maybe your true name is written on the strands of fate that surround you and you need to take steps to obscure your identity or motives or whatever to conceal that. So part of unraveling the mystery of the villain is being able to identify the true name - which, to be clear, isn't just Vittorio Cassalanter (as an example) but Vittrulasaer the Appeaser.

So this one I would send back to the drawing board. It doesn't execute on the fantasy it attempts to deliver.

[Max_Killjoy]

I have to say, I prefer the flavor of true names being that it's a mystical and often unknown thing. You might not even know your own true name without consulting some supernatural force (a spell or creature, either way). That's generally how it was previously described in earlier lore: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/True_name (also see the old Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark expansion where this plays a major role)

They seem to instead be going for more of a Black Company approach, but I also don't care for the idea that if you identify too closely with a pseudonym, maybe THAT becomes your true name. That runs contrary to the Black Company flavor where Lady identifies primarily as Lady, and you have to dive deep into history and uncover all sorts of secrets to figure out her true name to seal her power. Eventually, you'd just call her Lady.

The idea of true names should allow for an obsessive Lich to spend hundreds of years burying any record of his true name, to the point that even he's forgotten what it is. But instead, if he does that, he's actually making the Namer's job easier because it turns out his true name is just whatever he's going by these days.

I think a better and more flavorful design is to expand the ability of the Namer to obtain true names of your average mook, since we want them to be able to use their Special Thing, but allow enemies to prepare in advance if they're afraid of having their Name known. Maybe Thought Shielding Rings are more common in a setting where your true name is a vulnerability. Maybe your true name is written on the strands of fate that surround you and you need to take steps to obscure your identity or motives or whatever to conceal that. So part of unraveling the mystery of the villain is being able to identify the true name - which, to be clear, isn't just Vittorio Cassalanter (as an example) but Vittrulasaer the Appeaser.

So this one I would send back to the drawing board. It doesn't execute on the fantasy it attempts to simulate.

Agreed, if "true names" are a thing in a setting / world, then they should be tightly tied to each person, each thing, each whatever has them... and it should take something important, something monumental, or a massive deliberate effort, to change it. Just going by a pseudonym or becoming famous under an appellation should not be enough.

[ATHATH]

I'm letting my druids have this ability, for free:

Elemental Summons

You can summon the primal spirit bound to your soul. As an action, you can expend one use of your Wild Shape feature to summon an elemental spirit, rather than assuming a beast form. The elemental spirit can be chosen from: Air, Earth, Fire or Water.
The spirit appears in an unoccupied space of your choice you can see within 30 feet of you. Each creature within 10 feet of the spirit (other than you) when it appears must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC or take 2d10 damage of the elemental type of the spirit:
The elemental spirit is friendly to you and your companions and obeys your commands. See this creature’s game statistics in the elemental spirit stat block. You determine the spirit’s appearance. Some spirits take the form of a humanoid figure, while others look like beasts.
In combat, the elemental spirit shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. The only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a minor action on your turn to command it to take one of the actions in its stat block or to take the Dash, Disengage, Help, or Hide action. The elemental spirit manifests for 1 hour; until it is reduced to 0 hit points; or until you use your Wild Shape again.
Elemental Spirit

Small elemental, any chaotic alignment

Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points equal to 2 + your Wisdom modifier + five times your druid level.
Speed 20 ft., 30 ft. fly (hover) for Air and Fire, 30 ft. swim for Water, 30 ft. burrow for Earth


STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
10 (+0) 14 (+2) 14 (+2) 13 (+1) 15 (+2) 11 (+0)

Saving Throws Dex +4, Con +4, Wis +4
Skills Nature +4
Damage Immunities Elemental damage of its type
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, grappled, prone, restrained
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages understands the languages you speak

Elemental Type	Damage Type
Air	Lightning
Earth	Acid
Fire	Fire
Water	Cold

Soul Bond. The following numbers increase by 1 when your proficiency bonus increases by 1: the spirit’s skill and saving throw bonuses above, the bonuses to hit and damage of its Elemental Attack, and the bonus to damage of its Destructive Teleportation.

Actions (Requires Your Bonus Action)

Elemental Attack Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 30 ft., one target you can see. Hit: 1d6 + 2 elemental damage.

Destructive Teleportation (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). The spirit and each willing creature of your choice within 5 feet of it teleport up to 6 squares to unoccupied spaces you can see. Each creature within 10 feet of the space that the spirit left must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC or take 1d6 + 2 elemental damage.

But... why? Druids are strong enough already, no?

[Theodoxus]

But... why? Druids are strong enough already, no?

The strongest druid, arguably the Moon, wouldn't summon elementals. The "casters" could use a buddy, and something to burn their wild shape on that isn't "I turn into a mangy dog and scout the town for interesting scraps of information and food."

A small elemental isn't a massive power boost. Their utility is decent, but not earth shattering. In a mostly caster party with a sad rogue, the companion would be a flanking buddy instead of the druid, cleric or arcanist. Heck, I'd be happy with the druid of yesterdecade showing back up with an actual animal companion - and this could conceivably do this too, without the mystical teleportation of course...

[Seclora]

The strongest druid, arguably the Moon, wouldn't summon elementals. The "casters" could use a buddy, and something to burn their wild shape on that isn't "I turn into a mangy dog and scout the town for interesting scraps of information and food."

A small elemental isn't a massive power boost. Their utility is decent, but not earth shattering. In a mostly caster party with a sad rogue, the companion would be a flanking buddy instead of the druid, cleric or arcanist. Heck, I'd be happy with the druid of yesterdecade showing back up with an actual animal companion - and this could conceivably do this too, without the mystical teleportation of course...

I agree with this argument, and I'd allow it as an alternate class feature, like Pact of the Tome or Pact of the Blade.

That being said, I'd probably also make it scale in a manner similar to Wild Shape with Teleport starting at level 8, and Improved Movement types at level 4. I don't think it would match the utility of Wild Shape, and certainly wouldn't beat a Moon Druid's Wild Shape for combat potential.

[diplomancer]

Moon druids would not use this, true, but shepherds druid (which I believe are better than moon druids) would use it and get even better.

Giving for free an alternative to wild shape uses is basically a buff to all druids class except the Moon Druids.

[sambojin]

Honestly, leave it to the Wildfire Druid. That summon is pretty amazing.

If you don't know how good an intelligent summon that looks how you want it to (ie: it looks like a non-burning saddle, with saddle-bags, but it has hands and arms, four of them, to carry and use 75lbs of stuff, or to hold onto you), that *flies* (at lvl2, and can't be proned/ grappled/ restrained/ frightened or charmed), that you can potentially ride as a tiny wildshaped beast (OK, a velociraptor. Kind-of has hands, for ranged attacks and riding, if it knew how, which you do. Finally, Mounted Combat rules that work for *you*, and even +inits your summon into acting when you do, while you have advantage against everything while attacking. It's like having 2x +7'ish to-hit attacks, crappy damage ones, at lvl2, plus a bonus action ranged attack, for an hour. With 30' flying. Two WS charges well-spent, I'd say), then you don't know how to Druid. It lasts an hour... Seriously, a non-concentration, modifiable, flying, teleporting, attacking summon with a bit of HP is too good to give to everyone. Everyone non-Wildfire'y, that is. Not everyone should be allowed to be flying-3attack-bomber-cavalry at lvl2. After that, it just becomes "constantly handy and versatile and gives you something to do with your bonus action every turn". Which is good too. Especially for druids.

It's an entire subclass feature for a reason. And, yes, it's a buff to Moon Druids as well (any bonus action attacks or advantage givers always are. Especially non-concentration ones).


((dumb thought for the day: If the wildfire rides you, does it create a recursive time-blackhole in initiative order? The summon is riding you, so you act on its initiative count, under Mounted Combat rules. But it only acts after your turn, on your initiative count. Arrrrggggghhhhh..... *head explodes*))

((PS. 30' burrow speed for Earth? F'ing WOW! A giant badger is 10' burrow speed, and that's about all you'll ever get without Longstrider or dashes at that level. Yes, a 6-seconds-to-make, 80' long (30' burrow +10'(longstrider) x2(dash)) small sized tunnel/area is available through basic earthen areas with your suggestion. Yep, can't see that being useful. Anyway, nitpicky, but Druids are all about unforeseen consequences, that only they saw))

((PPS. It's probably been mentioned, but the lvl6 wildfire druid thing doesn't say lvl1+ spells anywhere. Or what roll it affects. So Produce Flame as an example, as a cantrip, gets +d8 to-hit, or +d8 damage. Which is sorta handy and versatile anyway. Snipe/Anti-armour or free-flame+hex damage, your choice. Also allows for cantrips to be delivered by your summon, like Thorn Whip, or even "+d8 damage Create Bonfires on the instant-damage-effect-when-you-cast-it" fire squares. Little things, but still nice. Sniper/Super Produce Flame is kinda cool, especially with a +5/d6+3 bonus action attack alongside it at lvl6, even if it's fire damage, so it's not. Boom 'tish indeed. She's a cantripper.... ))

[Citadel97501]

I am just wondering but do we know the Wildfire Spirit's CR? A friend of mine was noticing that you might be able to cast Polymorph on it since it doesn't have any spells and would keep most of its abilities, basically only being improved due to its lowish AC and lowish health.

[jaappleton]

I am just wondering but do we know the Wildfire Spirit's CR? A friend of mine was noticing that you might be able to cast Polymorph on it since it doesn't have any spells and would keep most of its abilities, basically only being improved due to its lowish AC and lowish health.

....This is an amazing question!

I've asked Dan Dillon, one of the leads on this UA. If I hear back, I'll let you know!

[Sigreid]

Cue every character's backstory now definitely making their truename not be their normal name.

"How did you know that I'm actually called Jigglypuff the Super-Glutton!? Only my family would know that, and they're dead! Got eaten.... "

Not really worth the bother. I mean the true name abilities are just arcane combat maneuvers. I'd play any of the other wizard subclasses before this one, personally.

[Sir_Solifuge]

I definitely like the feel of the Twighlight Cleric. It seems like it could be a lot of fun to play. There is a lot of worry about unlimited Darkvision, but no one seems to worry about unlimited sight in daytime. Just because your Darkvision goes more than 120 ft, doesn't mean there aren't things in the way, details that will be missed, unclear visages of something out there. It's not as if this grants telescopic vision in the dark, just that it's more of a true night vision that 5E's "Darkvision."

As far as the Wildfire Druid.... I can see why they went this way, but I definitely would have enjoyed more emphasis on the rebirth aspect of fire. Perhaps some mechanic of the Druid being able to bring about regrowth (plants as offense or defense, or healing, or something) from any fire spell. Your Wizard just laid down a massive Fireball, well perhaps have the ability to piggy-back off of their fire effect. Maybe a Bonus Action heal to allies in that area once the fire dissipates, or maybe bonus action spells that cause plant growth in that area. Etc. And I get why they went with some sort of fire elemental as what this Druid controls, but I wish it would have been even less concrete. Wildfires are very difficult to control, so maybe be more focused on the way nature responds and reacts to these fires as opposed to controlling the fire itself. Just some thoughts.

I am not a fan of the Onomancer at all. I think the idea that True Names hold power is awesome, and I would have loved to seen some rules codified as to just what characters (PC or NPC alike) could get up to with them. That being said, I was severely let down seeing that this is where they went with it. I just don't like the feel of it, and mechanically speaking, it's a bit uninspired. I feel like they were trying to pigeonhole some neat ideas into one place, where I'd have preferred if they spread around True Name use. A Cleric is going to use a Fiend's True Name differently, than a Rogue who stole it from a Guild Leader. A Paladin could imbue their strike with power given that his foe's true name is spoken upon its hit. A Bard might weave True Names into their music as a means of being some creature's puppeteer. I would have loved to see these sorts of mechanical buffs found in the Resonants spread around the classes. Making it a Wizard specific thing just falls flat to me and leaves me wanting.

Then add onto that all of the criticisms given in this thread already about how often this subclass is just going to be negated, or how some lowly Goblin is going to be affected by their True Name being tossed around the same ways as an all-but-immortal extraplanar creature that's been around for millenia... yeah, no. I pretty much consider this UA to have ended after the final section of the Wildfire Druid.

[Max_Killjoy]

I am not a fan of the Onomancer at all. I think the idea that True Names hold power is awesome, and I would have loved to seen some rules codified as to just what characters (PC or NPC alike) could get up to with them. That being said, I was severely let down seeing that this is where they went with it. I just don't like the feel of it, and mechanically speaking, it's a bit uninspired. I feel like they were trying to pigeonhole some neat ideas into one place, where I'd have preferred if they spread around True Name use. A Cleric is going to use a Fiend's True Name differently, than a Rogue who stole it from a Guild Leader. A Paladin could imbue their strike with power given that his foe's true name is spoken upon its hit. A Bard might weave True Names into their music as a means of being some creature's puppeteer. I would have loved to see these sorts of mechanical buffs found in the Resonants spread around the classes. Making it a Wizard specific thing just falls flat to me and leaves me wanting.

Then add onto that all of the criticisms given in this thread already about how often this subclass is just going to be negated, or how some lowly Goblin is going to be affected by their True Name being tossed around the same ways as an all-but-immortal extraplanar creature that's been around for millenia... yeah, no. I pretty much consider this UA to have ended after the final section of the Wildfire Druid.

Part of the problem with something like "true names" is that they've ended up crammed into a subclass like this... because there's no actual "how magic works" underlying the magic system.

If "true names" are a thing, then how that works and what effect it has on casting and resisting magic, needs to be built into the magic system from the ground up, not tacked on buried in a subclass.

[Kuu Lightwing]

I think the problem is that a subclass leaves very limited design space. A Wizard is well... a Wizard. Remove the subclass entirely, and you still have a pretty strong character, simply because it's a Wizard with Wizard spells. So, a subclass is only allowed to add a little bit. It's the same problem as with psionics as a sorcerer subclass in my opinion. Most of the time you are doing the exact same thing as any other wizard/sorcerer, and sometimes you can use your "special features".

Basically you can't really do a new magic system as a subclass of an existing arcane/divine class, because the base class would always be dominant, as it contains the most of your power.

[Theodoxus]

I took out the wizard class completely, and then added Implements and Implement Mastery to Bard, Warlock and Sorcerer. One Implement Mastery is Tome of Wizardry. Choosing that mastery at 1st level changes your spellcasting stat from Charisma to Intelligence, and you gain spellcasting as a wizard - memorizing spells and copying them into your spellbook - although I took it a step back and made it pure Vancian casting. I did grant extra spell slots for the trouble though.

Sorcerers can still use their metamagic on the wizard spells, though creating slots is no longer as valuable, as they'd need to take a short rest to memorize a spell into the new slot. It's technically doable, but none of the sorcerer/wizards so far have utilized the function.

[Luccan]

Perhaps the Onomancy subclass shouldn't be the way to introduce true names? Whether or not it fits the trope perfectly, true names imply a certain level of power that will probably unbalance the subclass somehow: either through extreme limitations that make true names feel unimportant or an obstacle that once overcome provides way more power than for other characters. I think an optional rule that any character can potentially make use of might be better.

[Kane0]

Should probably wrap Truespeech into it while you’re at it, if you’re going with the theme of words having both meaning and power without tacking it onto an existing caster class

[Luccan]

Should probably wrap Truespeech into it while you’re at it, if you’re going with the theme of words having both meaning and power without tacking it onto an existing caster class

I suppose I didn't make it clear, but this is basically what I meant: all true X magic should probably be its own, separate thing if you want it to feel special and powerful without favoring particular characters. A dictionary or even a single word of truespeech could easily serve as treasure or a reward if you did it properly. Could be like a slotless magic item. Maybe you have to "attune" to words or phrases (so you can't use more than one at a time), but it doesn't eat up other attunement slots. The names of individuals could make them more potent or they could even make certain actions in general more potent, rather than giving a specific power. That way you could separate the two if you wanted (because I can see the argument that Truespeech kind of overlaps with wizards already).

[Kane0]

Using attunement is an interesting idea, gives everyone a go at it without tying it to casting.

Bonus points if you have a class or subclasses that bypass the attunement restriction or get additional attunement spots for truewords/truenames. Like Artificers.

[ATHATH]

....This is an amazing question!

I've asked Dan Dillon, one of the leads on this UA. If I hear back, I'll let you know!

Wouldn't giving the Wildfire Spirit a CR make it summonable with Conjure Minor Elementals and/or Conjure Elemental?