Getting through these! Obviously, we saw some changes to the base class, but we've also now gotten the narrowed-down list of PHB Cleric subclasses, giving us the Life, Light, Trickery, and War Domains. Let's get to it!
Life:
We saw a revision of the Life Domain earlier in this playtest, so we'll see what changes from 2014 and the previous version.
3rd level:
Sanity prevails and once again, Domain Spells now include 1st level spells again, even if you're getting the feature at level 3. Bless and Cure Wounds are back. 2nd level spells are now Aid and Lesser Restoration (the former replacing Prayer of Healing in the previous playtest and Spiritual Weapon from the original version). Mass Healing Word is still replacing Beacon of Hope, while Revivify remains part of this. Aura of Life again replaces Guardian of Faith, and Greater Restoration once again replaces Raise Dead.
So, I think the overall idea here is to make sure you always have a good healing loadout.
The bonus proficiency is now rolled into the Divine Order.
Disciple of Life is worded slightly differently from its 2014 version, as you now need to have expended a spell slot to get the bonus (so nothing from spell scrolls or magic items).
Preserve Life has been redesigned a bit - when you cast an Abjuration spell from the Divine spell list, you can expend uses of Channel Divinity to create a spell slot to use for that casting - expending a number of uses equal to the spell's level - for example, if you wanted to cast Shield of Faith, you could expend a Channel Divinity use.
Notably, because this creates the spell slot to use for it rather than letting you cast it for free, this will get the benefit of your Disciple of Life.
6th level:
Blessed Healer works the same except it requires you to expend a spell slot.
17th level:
This works the same as it did, though it now also applies to uses of Channel Divinity as well as spells (which, in your case, is probably only healing via Divine Spark).
So, the only dramatic change here is the change to Preserve Life. I'm skeptical you'll be so eager to toss multiple Channel Divinities to save spell slots, but I have not played much in the way of Clerics. Still, Life Cleric is definitely the healing-est healer that ever healed.
Light Domain:
As a WoW player, I remember assuming that Light was going to be the "default" Cleric subclass when I first started playing, but of course in practice this is more of an offense-focused subclass - a kind of light-mage. Let's see how it translates.
3rd level:
In the Domain Spells, Scorching Ray and Flaming Sphere are replaced with Moonbeam and See Invisibility. Guardian of Faith is replaced with Arcane Eye.
While they still have a bit of a fire theme thanks to Fireball, Wall of Fire, and Flame Strike, these changes seem to emphasize a bit more of the light side of things. I don't know that Scorching Ray or Flaming Sphere are going to be sorely missed, and there's an argument in favor of putting more situationally useful spells like See Invisibility into these subclass features, as you're unlikely to prepare them ahead of time.
There's no bonus cantrip, but you can pick the Thaumaturge Divine Order if you want one.
Warding Flare is no longer restricted against creature immune to the Blinded condition, but is otherwise the same. Also, you can use it on allies within 30 feet as soon as you get it, rather than at higher level.
Radiance of the Dawn works the same as it did before, though it's phrased as dealing damage to "creatures of your choice" rather than "hostile creatures." The mention of Total Cover is also removed, though that might be due to redundancy.
6th level:
Revealing Light is a new feature. As a bonus action, you can cast See Invisibility without expending a spell slot, and doing so this way also grants your allies the benefits of the spell while they're within 10 feet of you. You also emit bright light in a 10 foot radius and dim light for another 10 feet (you can end this effect as a bonus action). And you can do this once per long rest.
Now, one thing that remains to be seen is how the Hide action, the Invisible condition, and the See Invisibility spell interact. For now, I think this is situational at best.
17th level:
Corona of Light is very similar, though you no longer need to take an action to dismiss it. The light also does not call out being "sunlight," such as how that could affect vampires or creatures with sunlight sensitivity.
Having never looked super closely at this subclass, it's pretty cool that there's zero limitation on how many times you can do this - you just might want to do so before combat.
So, really, Light Domain is looking only mildly changed. I'll be honest, I haven't seen anyone play this subclass, despite the fact that it gets Fireball. And I don't know if that will change.
Trickery Domain:
First off, Domain Spells. Mirror Image is replaced by Invisibility. Hypnotic Pattern and Nondetection replace Blink and Dispel Magic. Confusion replaces Polymorph. And Hold Person and Mislead replace Dominate Person and Modify Memory.
Phew, so that's a lot of swapped out spells. Some are total bangers, like Hypnotic Pattern, and I can kind of see how these spells in some ways fit the theme of the class better than the old ones. Power-wise, it's a mixed bag.
Blessing of the Trickster is now usable on someone 30 feet from yourself, not just at touch range.
Invoke Duplicity has gotten some huge buffs. First off, it's a bonus action to activate. Next, when you create the illusion, rather than creating it up to 30 feet away, instead you teleport up to 30 feet and leave the illusion where you had been. Next, it no longer requires concentration. The remote spellcasting and distraction effects are still in place, but you can now also move the illusion 30 feet on your turn as long as it remains within 120 feet of you, but you can also teleport, swapping places with the illusion after this movement.
Weirdly, the notes in the UA suggest that there was previously some ability to teleport in the old version of this, but I cannot find it. Still, this is a massive, massive buff to this ability - not just the teleportation, but the fact that it's non-concentration and also a bonus action.
6th level:
Trickster's Magic replaces Cloak of Shadows. Cloak of Shadows lets you change the casting time of an Illusion spell that takes one action to a bonus action. You can do this a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier per long rest (no Channel Divinity required).
And you now have the Invisibility spell, so I don't think you've lost much.
17th level:
Improved Duplicity no longer grants extra duplicates, but it improves in a number of ways - first off, you can teleport 120 feet when you create it rather than 30 feet, and you can move it 60 feet as a bonus action. It grants its distracting advantage for attacks to your allies, not just you, and finally, when it ends, you or a creature of your choice within 5 feet of the duplicate regain HP equal to your Cleric level.
Ok, so, you're naturally going to be bamfing around the battlefield much more easily with this improvement, and setting up allies for success with it. One thing I will note is that there's nothing saying creating one duplicate will prevent you from creating another (though you can only move one at a time).
I've had multiple players pick this subclass, and I think the changes here let it do what it was doing, only better. So I think we've got a solid option now.
War:
The most likely one to take the Protector Divine Order, I've generally thought of this as the subclass for if you want to play a Paladin but the party needs an actual healer. Let's do our comparison!
Domain Spells: These are almost identical, except Destructive Wave takes the place of Flame Strike.
The old bonus proficiencies are now handled by Divine Order.
War Priest now lets you learn one weapon mastery, which you can swap on a Long Rest. The bonus action attacks work the same, but now you get your uses back on a Short Rest as well as a Long Rest. You also don't need to have taken the Attack Action to use this anymore.
Guided Strike now incorporates the old War God's Blessing to work for you or any ally within 30 feet you can see. It also lets you wait to see if the attack missed before you give the bonus.
So, these are both buffs, and quite nice quality-of-life buffs at that.
6th level:
War God's Blessing, of course, does something different now given that the old version was more or less rolled into Guided Strike. Now, whenever you cast Shield of Faith on an ally, you also get the benefits of it. You also get one free casting of Shield of Faith per Short or Long rest.
This is nice, and given that it's replacing effectively nothing, all the better. Again, this is building you out to be the front-line cleric.
17th level:
Avatar of Battle is the same, except it drops the "nonmagical" rider to the damage resistance.
However, before we celebrate, this might not be the buff it looks like, because I think a lot of creatures that have magical weapons will instead be dealing Force damage with their attacks, as we're seeing "magical weapons" as a thing seemingly excised from the game's rules.
And there you have it - again, like a lot of stuff in Playtest 6, this is more about tweaking than full redesign. I think to a large extent these are looking buffed. It occurs to me that we should probably go through the latest version of each base class as well, but let me finish out the rest of the classes (I think only Bard is left?) before we get into that.
No comments:
Post a Comment