Comments on: UA: A Trio of Subclasses Breakdown

By: Lilfut

Lilfut — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 02:20:00 +0000

I can’t help but feel like you’re fundamentally misunderstanding what the Oath of Redemption is *for*. It’s for players and groups that have a mutual understanding that your pacifism is a genuine character goal, as part of your roleplaying, and that your mechanics should reflect that. I agree it’s probably busted as hell in a hardcore big-tactics campaign, but that’s just fundamentally not what the archetype is there for – and any sane DM running that sort of thing would be entirely right to veto it. But for a roleplay-heavy campaign where debating whether you should be killing these goblins is an accepted part of the game flow? It’s a great fit, and allows the paladin to just stand there and let the villain beat on him while he tries to talk them out of their foolish plots.

By: Brandes Stoddard

Brandes Stoddard — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 16:17:00 +0000

In reply to Unexpected Dave. I am, as always, pleased and flattered to hear that my work is so useful to you. =)

By: Unexpected Dave

Unexpected Dave — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 14:12:00 +0000

In reply to Brandes Stoddard. Once again, Brandes, let me say how much help your columns have been at helping me think critically about homebrew content, and helping me decide what "unofficial" content I want to allow at my table.

By: Leon

Leon — Sat, 29 Apr 2017 00:57:00 +0000

In reply to Brandes Stoddard. Like I said, I think it's the fact that the Drunken Master is basically a joke. By being perpetually drunk, it feels like you aren't taking the story as seriously as you need to. As for the other subclasses, there are a lot of goodies in the Oath of Redemption that could either be cannibalized for another subclass or fixed by changing some of the problematic portions of their class. Monster Slayer has some neat ideas (I'm a fan of Slayer's Eyes, though I agree with you on the story-breaking potential) but Slayer's Counter and Relentless Slayer are beyond unacceptable.

By: Brandes Stoddard

Brandes Stoddard — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 15:48:00 +0000

In reply to Leon. Sure, redirecting attacks is totally a thing we see in other areas of content, especially other subclasses. Maybe it's the mood I was in when I read this, maybe it's really what the text suggests, but THIS case feels like making a joke of the enemy where some others feel like swashbuckling heroics. (On a reread of my own article, I kind of oversold my objection to Tipsy Sway, as I was building up a good head of steam for the later subclasses in the document.)

By: Leon

Leon — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 08:05:00 +0000

I think there’s some potential with Tipsy Sway, it just is turned into a ‘silly’ skill by virtue of it being on the designated joke class. Since the class is inherently lighthearted, it just tone shifts the game. Maybe as a variant on the Tranquil Monk, since they have a tone of seriousness (a pacifist shouldn’t really be mocking their foes mid-battle). Possibly as a replacement for Douse the Flames since it’s kind of in a weird place where it runs contrary to what your group might want.

By: Brandes Stoddard

Brandes Stoddard — Tue, 04 Apr 2017 17:17:00 +0000

In reply to Dakota Graves.

My breakdown: http://www.tribality.com/2017/04/04/ua-starter-spells-breakdown/

The Teal Deer version (all hail the Order of the Cerulean Stag) is that I liked a lot of what went on here. There are a few glaring issues, including the sorcerer kind of getting the shaft, but overall I like that there are new attack cantrips kicking around, I am happy to see ceremony return even if there are implementation issues, and I’m glad this isn’t Official Final Rules Text.

By: Dakota Graves

Dakota Graves — Tue, 04 Apr 2017 17:08:00 +0000

In reply to Brandes Stoddard. Ha, yea. I'm interested to see what you think. Not to be an eternal negative-nancy, but I was a little disappointed in these. The game is aching for new spells, and there is some cool stuff in there, but most of these were super boring.

By: Brandes Stoddard

Brandes Stoddard — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 21:10:00 +0000

In reply to Dakota Graves. How the hell about that, we get a big pile of spells this week! Neat.

By: Brandes Stoddard

Brandes Stoddard — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 19:01:00 +0000

In reply to Jackson Gorny. That's... not entirely unlike where I was going with my concept of the Oath of Redemption - I wanted to have paladins who were working to redeem their own honor or someone else's, in the sense of trying to convince a single powerful, more-or-less-immortal bad guy to repent (fallen angels are what I had in mind here).