unearthed arcana light dark underdark is up

[Fable Wright]

If you dip two levels into sorcerer, you can pull the darkness trick twice per day at most.

...Right. Because Sorcerers don't have options to convert spell slots into Sorcery Points. It's not like you can just burn a 1st level spell slot for another activation, or burn a 2nd level one for two more uses.

[Yorrin]

Step 1: there is a god of light who has angels. Let's call him Pelor.

I think the intent is to have Pelor/Lathander/Ra/etc be the patron, depending on your setting.

I know in my homebrew setting Warlock is just another flavor of Cleric, as one devoted to a god whose portfolio lines up with one of the "patron" options. e.g. my god of elves can be a fey patron, my god of the sea is a GOO patron, the Asmodeous-equivalent obviously covers fiend pact, etc. Players can choose patrons other than these, but NPC warlocks are all religious to one degree or another.

With that in mind, I don't actually have a god of light (shocking, I know. My "goodguy-human" deity is a god of storms), so I'm not sure where I'm going to fit this into my world if it reaches full publication. Perhaps as a grassroots sect?

[eastmabl]

...Right. Because Sorcerers don't have options to convert spell slots into Sorcery Points. It's not like you can just burn a 1st level spell slot for another activation, or burn a 2nd level one for two more uses.

Holding aside the fact that 2nd level sorcerers don't get 2nd level spells, I suppose that you are right.

So, five times per day? Assuming that you abide by a standard adventuring day of 6-8 encounters per day, I still don't think that it's the most mind-blowing dip in the world.

[Ralanr]

I think the intent is to have Pelor/Lathander/Ra/etc be the patron, depending on your setting.

I know in my homebrew setting Warlock is just another flavor of Cleric, as one devoted to a god whose portfolio lines up with one of the "patron" options. e.g. my god of elves can be a fey patron, my god of the sea is a GOO patron, the Asmodeous-equivalent obviously covers fiend pact, etc. Players can choose patrons other than these, but NPC warlocks are all religious to one degree or another.

With that in mind, I don't actually have a god of light (shocking, I know. My "goodguy-human" deity is a god of storms), so I'm not sure where I'm going to fit this into my world if it reaches full publication. Perhaps as a grassroots sect?

Doesn't have to be of light. Despite the obvious connections, you can use it for another flavor and justify light as its weapon. So it could be for a god of hope or something.

[CNagy]

Close Combat Shooter is decent; it trades +1 from Archery style for the less useful abilities of Crossbow Expert and Sharpshooter. You'd need to be MC or a Champion to double it up with the Archery style, and then if you were going to invest that much into ranged combat you'd want to end up getting at least Sharpshooter anyway and probably Crossbow Expert, too.

Tunnel Fighter is finally a good tanking fighting style. With a reach weapon and Sentinel, you can most certainly hold the bridge/tunnel/hilltop with "You Shall Not Pass!" badness... at least until the horde hacks you to pieces. I don't think it makes it to prime time with this kind of wording, though, I expect the eventual wording to make it clear that only OAs resulting from creatures leaving your reach don't cost your reaction, to keep PM+Sentinel+Tunnel Fighter from being a 5' shifting meatgrinder.

I'm loving the ranger; this class seems to be the master of action-less attacks. Bonus speed is nice, extra attack on the first turn is good. Darkvision out to 90 feet solves the Human Ranger problem. Iron Mind and Stalker's Flurry encourage more than just a dip into the class. I like Stalker's Flurry in particular because as written it works nicely with Two Weapon Fighting--miss with either weapon, have the choice to either make an additional attack with that weapon or use the other weapon. Very cinematic and situationally a slight mechanical advantage above and beyond more reliably landing attacks.

[rollingForInit]

The one thing about the Undyling Light warlock that looks potentially unbalancing to me (this is gonna sound weird) is the lack of a real patron. /../ And it sounds like he got his powers from a badly written eldritch self-help book.[/tirade]

How involved the conventional patrons are is 100% DM-dependent, though. Some DM's will use it for plot hooks, others will never ever mention it. Some Warlocks want the plot hooks, others just want the mechanics. This is a good way to demonstrate that the Warlock mechanics can work without an actual Patron. A bit like how you can have a Paladin that's devoted to a concept rather than an actual deity.

If you want an actual living patron for the Undying Light, personally, I'd go with an angel. An angel in service to a deity, and the angel needs mortals to do its dirty work or run errands that is beneath it's dignity. Perhaps it wants the mortal to do things that it cannot do itself, or that it wouldn't, given its virtuous nature.

[CNagy]

The one thing about the Undyling Light warlock that looks potentially unbalancing to me (this is gonna sound weird) is the lack of a real patron. Yes, it's true, from a role-playing standpoint. All the other warlocks have patrons they actually have to answer to, with contractual obligations, hidden agendas, axes to grind, pet peeves, personal snits, and so forth.

Not necessarily. The Great Old One description straight up states that your Eldritch Horror Boss may not even know you exist and, if it finds out, may not care. Hell, I consider GOO patrons to be so alien that even if it does have a specific role for you to play in its agenda, it may be 10,000 years before your particular services are required.

[KorvinStarmast]

So the floor's open for nominations. Undying Light Self-Help-Addicted Warlock needs a serious patron.

Any suggestions?

A celestial of some sort?
A Planetar or a Solar with a motive?

I have in mind something like the Archangel who helped Damiano in that series of books by R.A MacAvoy. ?


(By the way, the books are excellent).

[deathbymanga]

I'm personally head over heels for this new Ranger Archetype. But, head-over-heels in the same way I'll be head-over-heals if Assassin's Creed Syndicate is a half-decent game and not riddled with bugs. Seriously, it's taken them this long to come up with something good for the rangers in the unearthed arcana? I personally really liked Beast Master and thought Hunter was passable, so why is it so hard to follow those up?

Shadow Sorcerer is actually looking to be one of my new favorite classes. I mean, I use to DM a campaign that had a Shadow Monk and an Old One Warlock in the same group. By the time they were at 3rd level they were comboing Darkness with Devil's Sight to completely destroy a Hill Giant I had sent after them. Not to mention, unlike Stormborn and Favoured Soul, the Shadow Sorcerer doesn't get any extra spells besides Darkness, so they are lacking in the spell variety, which was kind of the point behind sorcerers anyway, wasn't it? they lack a lot of spells, but make up for it by maximizing the spells they do have to their fullest. That's why they get those metamagics and can choose how many spell slots they want to cast with. a lot of level 1s or a lot of higher levels or an even amount.

Not to mention dipping into sorcerer is done all the time beforehand. Dragonblood is an awesome dip for Gish classes. Not to mention Stormborn lets you fly, pretty powerful by 5e's standards.

[tieren]

I think the flat boost to range attacks on close quarters shooter should have a range limitation as well. It doesn't make sense if you also have sharpshooter and are targeting something 600 feet away that your close combat fighting style would give you a bonus.

Picturing say a champion fighter with archery and close quarters shooter fighting styles and sharp shooter feat.

[zylodrizzt]

After this article I wonder how many stacking or different instances of "I'm not dead yet" you could get on 1 character. I think 4 1/2 orc shadow sorc light (maybe that new one in SCAG too) warlock long death monk. I don't think you can add barb enough and not sure of spells that can do the same thing but it could be a character that knows where he will end up if he don't shape up.

[silveralen]

The ability to stack both ranged fighting styles seems extreme currently. +3 to attack, when melee users can't even get a +1, is very much breaking the scaling at this point.

Love tunnel fighter though, glad that got added, seems balanced honestly. Should be fun to see.

Underdark scout looks kinda okay until we get to lvl 11 and 15, where it completely drops off. I'm not sure if this is due to the expanded spell list, but these features really lack oomph for that level. It's almost ranger capstone level bad.

Shadow sorcerer.... those 1st/2nd level perks are kinda absurd. Being able to spam darkness you can see through and gain darkvision, and have the save when on low health to stay up is a really great package. Rogue and paladin come to mind as good options for it. The fact you also get meta magic and spell progression means it is a steal for most casters who don't need their capstone that badly (warlock and bard come to mind). The perks beyond that look solid, if a bit odd (the hound is.... strange to say the least).

Why does this warlock get a bonus to damage for two separate types of spells? Okay yes, the spells that actually deal that damage within his class are pretty much only the spells on the list and like 2 more, which would matter more if flaming sphere wasn't on there. Congrats, warlock at will damage is now at an all time high. Oh, and resistance to the most common elemental damage type on all the time. The other abilities are also fairly powerful compared to the player's handbook. I honestly struggle to imagine why you wouldn't use this patron mechanically.

[Michael7123]

Well, now I have a sorcerer subclass option that I can use in the place of my dread necro. I love how they handled the sorcerer archetype, except for the level 6 ability. I personally think that should have given access to a limited form of animate dead.

[deathbymanga]

Well, now I have a sorcerer subclass option that I can use in the place of my dread necro. I love how they handled the sorcerer archetype, except for the level 3 ability. I personally think that should have given access to a limited form of animate dead.

that actually sounds like something I'd be willing to homebrew allow as a DM, would be fun for a Sorcerer than can summon the dead

[Tarvil]

I love new Sorcerer and Warlock archetypes. Especially Sorcerer is much better that poorly designed Favoured Soul or Tempest. No more free flying and free spells.

[Mcdt2]

Well, now I have a sorcerer subclass option that I can use in the place of my dread necro. I love how they handled the sorcerer archetype, except for the level 3 ability. I personally think that should have given access to a limited form of animate dead.

Personally, I'm very glad they didn't do this. I'm tired of "shadow" being always equated with undead, thematically.

[Darkzekkai]

I just wanna state that I really like what they did for the warlock and the sorcerer. Both are fun, flavorful options.

[Sigreid]

Close Quarters Shooter is just Sharpshooter's main benefit without the feat cost.

It's also what I consider the important part of Crossbow Expert, negating disadvantage when in melee range of an opponent.

[Sigreid]

Most of the stuff doesn't appeal to me. Doesn't revolt or anger me either. I like the light warlock idea and hope they run with it.

[Kane0]

That warlock looks amazing, I'm looking forward to that being released somewhere.

The fighting styles tread into feat territory, but I like what they're trying to do. Better to keep it simple though, I think the close quarters shooting one has too much going on.

Shadow sorcerer looks great too, but i wonder why not just give darkness as an extra spell known and the improved darkvision applies to all darkness spells.

[Michael7123]

Personally, I'm very glad they didn't do this. I'm tired of "shadow" being always equated with undead, thematically.

There already is some reference, especially with the optional flaws table making you seem to be partially undead yourself.

[silveralen]

Well, now I have a sorcerer subclass option that I can use in the place of my dread necro. I love how they handled the sorcerer archetype, except for the level 3 ability. I personally think that should have given access to a limited form of animate dead.

You could always alter the fluff of the hound ability this way if you chose. Not amazing but just a thought. The 18 could allow you to become wraith like, rather than shadow like as well.

[Sception]

Hrm. Human paladin with resilient con, a 14 con score, max cha, the save aura, and a bless up, is rocking, what +14 to +17 on con saves? Could be worth the dip.

The tunnel fighter looks nice, but the extra attacks are situational, and since it costs a minor to activate, you need to get in two of them to actually be up an attack over whatever you would have been doing with your minor, otherwise.

[Flashy]

Well, now I have a sorcerer subclass option that I can use in the place of my dread necro. I love how they handled the sorcerer archetype, except for the level 3 ability. I personally think that should have given access to a limited form of animate dead.

Unfortunately this still doesn't work. For some god forsaken reason Animate Dead isn't on the sorcerer list, literally the only way to get it is favored soul: death domain.

[CNagy]

The tunnel fighter looks nice, but the extra attacks are situational, and since it costs a minor to activate, you need to get in two of them to actually be up an attack over whatever you would have been doing with your minor, otherwise.

Situational, yes, but you can sort of create the situation. Take a Eldritch Knight with Tunnel Fighter and Sentinel, put him in an open plain. He sweeps through the opponents, using an attack action to take however many attacks or casting Greenflame Blade or Booming Blade or any of the those new cantrips, and he ends his move past them, putting them between him and the party. Then he enters defensive stance.

If the enemies make a break for it, he gets an OA against each of them and knocks their speed to 0. If one of them attempts to attack the rest of the party at range, he gets to spend his reaction to attack. If he has War Caster, maybe those OAs are actually cantrips.

I mean, you potentially put yourself in a lot of danger by diving headlong into the enemy lines, but if you are a hard enough target and you get some support at range from the party, you turn the pincer attack into a credible 5e strategy.

Edit... hello, Bladesinger! Welcome to being a hard target.

[Hawkstar]

I am annoyed that the Light Warlock has nothing but blasts... I'd expect it to also have healing ability (Y'know... Positive Energy's primary trait?)

[deathbymanga]

Unfortunately this still doesn't work. For some god forsaken reason Animate Dead isn't on the sorcerer list, literally the only way to get it is favored soul: death domain.

take a single level dip into Wizard to get access to their spell book and put Animate Dead in there.

[Flashy]

take a single level dip into Wizard to get access to their spell book and put Animate Dead in there.

You'd still have to be able to cast 3rd level spells as a wizard in order to be able to prepare it though.

[Ralanr]

I am annoyed that the Light Warlock has nothing but blasts... I'd expect it to also have healing ability (Y'know... Positive Energy's primary trait?)

Final abilities heal/give temporary hit points.

[Steampunkette]

Doesn't have to be of light. Despite the obvious connections, you can use it for another flavor and justify light as its weapon. So it could be for a god of hope or something.

"My Patron is Steven Spielberg"

"What?"

"Have you SEEN his movies? Everything terrible happens in the light. Schindler's List: Every innocent Jew is killed in the daytime. ET's got magic powers in the darkness, but the Government brings in giant white plastic housing and he nearly dies. Saving Private Ryan has a Jewish man Knifed by a Nazi while a cowardly Gentile stands by, knowing what's happening and not helping. Poltergeist could basically have the subtitle 'Light is scary and will steal your children', Spielberg treats Light as evil!

His whole movie core is holocaust horror: Everything terrible happened right in front of everyone, in broad daylight, and no one tried to stop it for -years-."