Saturday, July 25, 2020

Theros Brings New Bard and Paladin Subclasses

In Mythic Odysseys of Theros, the Bard and the Paladin each get new subclass options that reflect aspects of Ancient Greek culture, both mythological and historical.

The Bard College of Eloquence reimagines the Bard not as a weaver of fanciful tales and music, but as a great orator, using rhetoric and logic to persuade others. Basically, if you want to be Socrates, this is your subclass.

At level 3, when you get the subclass, you gain two benefits: Silver Tongue and Unsettling Words.

Silver Tongue is phenomenal for level 3, allowing any Charisma Persuasion or Deception check where you roll 9 or less on the die to be treated as a 10 (meaning, even at level 5, if you have expertise in one of these skills and +4 to Charisma, you'll be getting a minimum of 20 on your checks.) Rogues get a similar thing with Reliable Talent, but not until they're much higher level.

Unsettling Words allows you, as a bonus action, to spend a bardic inspiration die to give a target within 60 feet a negative to their next saving throw equal to the number rolled. So if you really want a spell to go off, you can juice it (effectively making your DC, or the DC of the next person who's going to force it to make a save, that much higher.)

Already, this subclass is strong. But wait.

At level 6, you get Unfailing Inspiration and Universal Speech.

Universal Speech is solid but not crazy, as you can just spend an action to let people up to your Cha modifier you want within 60 feet understand you for an hour (though it doesn't seem to let you understand them,) and like some of the artificer abilities, you get one of these per long rest, but can also expend a spell slot to do it again.

Unfailing Inspiration is the much more exciting thing - basically, your allies only use up their inspiration die if they succeed. Giving it to an ally is never a waste, as they can keep using it (for the ten minutes or however long it lasts) until they actually succeed on their check.

Finally, at level 14, you get Infectious Inspiration. When someone uses one of your Bardic Inspiration dice, you can use a reaction to then give someone else a die, without using up one of your reserves. Like your normal BI dice, you have as many as your Charisma modifier, though these only recharge on a long rest. Still, that can mean potentially twice as many Inspirations on a day without a short rest, and just a bunch more on days with them.

I really like this subclass, despite not being a huge fan of bards in general. While very clearly linked to the Helenistic world of Theros, it'd be very easy to introduce this to any setting with philosophers or orators. Indeed, College of Eloquence would fit in perfectly with the Azorius Senate in Ravnica, or even the Orzhov Syndicate's team of corporate lawyers known as Advokists. This is a Bard College perfect for any courtroom drama, but with broadly applicable abilities that would be good in any situation.

Paladins get the Oath of Glory. I'd argue this isn't quite as powerful as Eloquence, but it has some interesting ideas. Oath of Glory is all about a Paladin who is committed to excellence - as in excelling past ordinary mortal limitations to become something extraordinary. It's the oath to be amazing and inspiring, and to become a hero of legend.

For Oath spells, Glory Paladins get Guiding Bolt and Heroism at 3rd level, Enhance Ability and Magic Weapon at 5th, Haste and Protection from Energy at 9th, Compulsion and Freedom of Movement at 13th, and Commune and Flame Strike at 17th.

For their 3rd level channel divinity options, they get Peerless Athlete and Inspiring Smite.

Peerless Athlete is a bonus action that gives you 10 minutes of advantage on Strength Athletics and Dexterity Acrobatics checks, as well as doubling your carrying capacity and extending long and high jumps by 10 feet.

Inspiring Smite lets you, as a bonus action after using Divine Smite, grant temporary hit points to creatures of your choice within 30 feet (including you) equal to 2d8 plus your paladin level, divided however you like.

At 7th level, you gain Aura of Alacrity, which gives anyone who starts your turn within 5 feet of you (if you're not incapacitated) 10 feet of extra movement, expanding to an aura of 10 feet at level 18. Frankly, this is a bit weird, especially because it forces people to really group up with you to benefit, even at high levels, and also penalizes anyone who doesn't roll higher in initiative (though it could also be a way to save others by running up to them if they need to run away from something.)

At 15th level, you get Glorious Defense. When you or another creature within 10 feet of you that you can see gets hit with an attack, you can use your reaction to grant a bonus to their AC equal to your Charisma modifier. If the attack then misses as a result, you can make one weapon attack against the attacker if you're in range. You can do this a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier per long rest.

Finally, at 20th level, you get your major paladin cooldown. As a bonus action, for 1 minute, you become a Living Legend: You gain advantage on all charisma checks, once per turn, you can turn any miss with a weapon attack you make into a hit, and if you fail a saving throw, you can use your reaction to reroll it (but must take the new result.) You can do this once per long rest, but you can expend a 5th level spell slot to do it again before you rest.

There are some good things here, though I find it a little less exciting than the College of Eloquence, which is flirting with brokenly good.

What both do is really focus in on a classic element of Ancient Greek culture, and I really like the idea of a paladin oath that more or less binds you to reckless acts of over-the-top heroism. Outside of Theros, I could see any Paladin character who really wants to play up recklessness as a personality trait. These would fit in Norse-style settings with paladins who wish to gain the glory that will get them into Valhalla, and certainly would work for the Boros Legion in Ravnica, or even potentially the Gruul Clans.

No comments:

Post a Comment