So, Playtest 7 brought about new revisions to a whole lot of PHB subclasses. Basically, as long as a class didn't already have more than four subclasses (the Cleric and Wizard,) all the 2014 subclasses were bound for a reprint. But those subclasses that worked just fine are getting only minor tweaks. Those that were broken are getting much more extensive changes.
The Great Old One is the subclass for the very first D&D character I ever rolled up. But in playing the game, I've often looked at the design of that subclass in 2014 and found it seriously lacking. Without the burden of a whole ton of other subclasses and other posts to make, I thought I'd go in and look at how the new version feels, both in comparison to the old one and on its own.
There might be a bit of redundancy here with the earlier post, but I'm going to probably go deeper into my thoughts about the design.
Awakened Mind:
When I first started playing, I was not, I guess, aware of how precise the language in class features needs to be. So, I interpreted the ability to speak telepathically with another creature as a two-way communication. The new version of this feature is functionally very different from the old version.
The only real nerf here is that you no longer get to communicate across language barriers. That is a little sad, but the other aspects are quite good. Indeed, this now functions identically to the Aberrant Sorcerer's Telepathic Speech feature (these subclasses are obviously thematically linked).
Actually, there is one other nerf - you need to activate it with a bonus action, while the old one was just always on for people within range.
I think this change is good - the old version was misleadingly less powerful than it seemed, and the new version both spells thing out much clearer and also will probably see more use.
Psychic Spells:
This feature has two parts, and both are intriguing.
The first is that you can choose to have your Warlock spells deal Psychic damage instead of other forms.
Naturally, you'll probably never use this on Eldritch Blast or anything that does Force damage. Even if Psychic is a pretty rarely-resisted damage type, almost nothing is immune or resistant to Force - which is honestly kind of the damage type's purpose. But let's consider what spells we might use this on:
The Warlock spell list is, at least for now, staying the same except for a handful of spells (hoping it gets better high-level spells). So let's go down the list, specifically of Warlock spells that deal damage that is not Force or Psychic.
Cantrips: Booming Blade, Chill Touch, Create Bonfire, Frostbite, Green-Flame Blade, Infestation, Lightning Lure, Magic Stone, Poison Spray, Thunderclap, Toll the Dead.
1st level: Armor of Agathys, Arms of Hadar, Hellish Rebuke, Hex, Witch Bolt
2nd level: Cloud of Daggers, Shatter
3rd level: Hunger of Hadar, Spirit Shroud, Thunder Step, Vampiric Touch
4th level: Blight, Elemental Bane, Shadow of Moil, Sickening Radiance
5th level: Enervation, Negative Energy Flood, Wall of Light
6th level: Circle of Death, Investiture of Flame, Investiture of Ice, Investiture of Wind
7th level: Crown of Stars, Finger of Death
So, it's not a tiny number of spells. However, a lot of these do Necrotic damage, which is also pretty rarely resisted, and even a few do Radiant, which is even less often resisted. Still, being able to use spells that usually do necrotic damage when fighting incorporeal undead could be useful.
The other half of this feature nearly gives you Psionics. You can cast Enchantment and Illusion spells without using verbal or somatic components. Notably, this means that if they don't have material components either, you can't be counterspelled and people can't necessarily know that you were the one that cast the spell. The patron spells for the GOO Warlock have Dissonant Whispers, Phantasmal Force, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Confusion, and Modify Memory. Unfortunately, a lot of these do have material components, so you might need to work out with your DM how obvious it is you are casting a spell if you happen to be holding your spell focus, you know, or a bit of fleece.
Still, you will be able to cast these even if you're silenced, and I think it would be reasonable to say that casting them does not break stealth if there's no obvious visible or audible effect to the spell. And those spells that lack a material component, which a good number of them do, will work just as you'd want them to.
Clairvoyant Combatant:
I always hated Entropic Ward. I hated it because it was weak - a single chance to impose disadvantage, and then only if they then miss you, you get advantage on a single attack roll. But I also hated it because it felt like it had zero to do with Great Old Ones. Entropy is, sort of, another term for chaos. Great Old Ones aren't inherently chaotic. Hell, Beholders and Mindflayers are typically Lawful. And, like... what is actually happening when I use this? It was terrible, off-theme, and just left a sour taste in my mouth.
Clairvoyant Combatant, though... this works.
And it works by using Awakened Mind. As part of the same bonus action to activate Awakened Mind, you can force the creature to make a Wisdom saving throw, and if they fail, the creature has disadvantage on attacks against you and you have advantage on attack rolls against it for the duration of the bond - which they can't break unless you're incapacitated or they get miles away from you.
You get one free use of this per short rest, but then you can spend spell slots if you need to use it again. (Specifically, you can spend 2nd level spell slots to recharge it - by this level as a Warlock, you have 3rd level slots, but if you're multiclassed or have spell slots through other means, like Pact of the Tome, this puts limitations on that).
Mechanically, this is similar (though obviously more powerful, as it persists for far more attacks). But the huge win here is that there's an actual thematic reason for this: as someone who has touched a power beyond mortal (and even immortal) comprehension, you can fuck with your target's mind. I think the phrasing of it as "clairvoyant" implies that you're reading the thoughts of how they intend to attack you, and what way they're anticipating your attacks, but you could also interpret it as simply breaking their mind with unsettling eldritch power.
My only real problem with this is the range. Awakened Mind requires a target be within 30 feet of you. While you can certainly dip within range and then leave it, unless I'm a committed Bladelock, I want to stay 90 feet away from them if I can (the range of Hex).
Still, I think this feature is miles and miles beyond the old Entropic Ward, and I far, far prefer this in more or less every way.
Thought Shield:
This is the one feature that hasn't changed at all. That's fine, as it always seemed reasonable. Psychic damage is not unheard of amongst monsters. There is, of course, the feedback loop if this triggers a Star Spawn Hulk. Oddly, this will also in theory feedback if you hit yourself with a spell that does psychic damage, such as if you put yourself in a Synaptic Static. I might phrase it as "when another creature deals Psychic damage to you" to resolve at least that case. I also might say you "can" have the creature take the same amount of damage you do, to avoid these weird edge cases. Or, embrace chaos and stay the hell away from Star Spawn Hulks!
Eldritch Hex:
This is actually another feature that does something I thought the base version did when I first started reading the D&D books. First off, it gives you Hex for free (so if you have that, be sure to swap it out at 10th level). Now, when you choose an ability to Hex, the target gets disadvantage on saving throws as well as ability checks for that ability for the duration of the spell.
Hex is, by this level, not what I want to hold concentration on. That being said, this makes it more attractive as an option. But disadvantage on a saving throw of your choice? That could be very handy. If your Wizard friend is getting ready to try to Disintegrate a foe, giving them disadvantage on Dexterity could really help that spell land.
For Warlocks, though, our damage is mostly born out of attack rolls - both with Eldritch Blast and with the Summon spells (which we'll touch on in the 14th level feature). This is for sure a damage loss versus, say, Summon Aberration, but if you coordinate with the rest of your party, it could be clutch.
Create Thrall:
The old Create Thrall was interesting thematically, but seemed like a nightmare for DMs and really situational (and also relies on you facing humanoid enemies at high levels). So, the old one is totally gone.
Instead, we now get Summon Aberration for free. We can also cast it in a different way: you can cast it without requiring Concentration. If you do it this way, the duration of the spell is reduced to 1 minute, but the Aberration gets Temp HP equal to your Charisma modifier plus your Warlock level. (So, probably 19 at this level and capping out at 26 if we use the level 19 ASI to get Charisma up to 22).
Additionally, the first time your Aberration hits a creature under the effects of Hex, the Aberration does bonus Psychic damage equal to Hex's bonus damage.
Thematically? Amazing. Mechanically... ok, let's break down all the ways that this probably isn't going to be used as intended.
First off, no Great Old One Warlock worth their salt is not going to take Summon Aberration at 7th level. It's a fantastic spell that is also totally on-brand for the subclass. This comes when you are twice that level. Maybe make Summon Aberration a third Patron spell at level 7?
Second: I wonder if this feature was designed with Playtest 5's version of Hex in mind. If you don't remember, that playtest changed Hunter's Mark and Hex to always only work on the first hit, but as they scaled up in level, they also scaled up in damage. Thus, a 3rd level Hex did 2d6, and a 5th level Hex did 3d6. While the lack of auto-scaling spells in playtest 5 (and the fact that you got these spell levels at 9th and 17th level) made this really underwhelming, this version of Hex is actually strictly better than the old one when used with a Pact Magic warlock. The reason is that the current version still relies on your hitting on all attacks to do its full damage, while the playtest 5 version only requires you to hit once.
Notably, this made the Beast Master Hunter capable of doing 6d6 extra damage with Hunter's Mark thanks to it similar feature. However, with this design, even if the Aberration is doing two attacks per round, you're getting at most 4d6 out of Hex.
Third: Yes, this is meant to encourage you to cast Hex with Summon Aberration. But you know what I think I'd rather do?
Cast Summon Aberraton with Summon Aberration.
While a single creature or object can only be affected by the same spell once, there's nothing saying you can't cast a spell like Mage Armor on multiple creatures. And if one instance of Summon Aberration doesn't require concentration, there's nothing to say you can't cast a second, normal, 1-hour long, concentration version.
Actually... at this level we have 3 warlock spell slots. Maybe I cast it three times.
Sure, it'll take three turns to get up and running, but given that I don't need to be worried about getting knocked out of concentration on the first two minute-long ones (and they get to start attacking immediately,) that means that by turn 3, I could swarm my target with 3 Star Spawn, attacking a total of six times to deal 1d8+8 on each hit (a total of 6d8+48, or 75 damage) and then potentially dealing 6d6 (21) damage from their Whispering Auras.
Even if we only cast two of them - the same spell slot cost of doing Hex and Summon Aberration - we're still doing 4d8+32 (50) damage compared to 2d8+16+1d6 (28.5). We can even throw in the 3d6 damage we could get for hitting with Eldritch Blast on later turns (10.5) and we're still a little short.
This cannot be the intention, and shows you the pitfalls of removing concentration from spells.
I really like the idea of incentivizing the use of Summon Aberration, but I think even with Eldritch Hex, there's still not enough power in the Hex spell to make it worth your while at this level as a Warlock.
But the big question is this: Does this subclass feel like it now delivers better on its fantasy and feels like a powerful one to play? Tentatively, I think yes. I don't think it's outpacing the other subclasses (the Archfey has gotten way better than it was) and I think there could be some tweaks made to the features here, but I would feel good converting my beloved neutral good spooky boy Conrad to this version of the subclass. With a little polish and tweaking, I think we could have an absolute banger here.
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