Continuing our horror-themed subclass UA review, we're on to the Rogue, a class that likes to stick to the shadows, but fit in many fantasy sub-genres. The Phantom, though, is one directly associated with the haunting specter of death. Published initially in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, the Phantom gets a little bit of "cleave" damage. Let's see what the proposed changes are:
Level 3:
Wails from the Grave remains the signature features of this subclass, and allows you to essentially hit a secondary target with half of your Sneak Attack (rolling separately, which I think means it won't scale up with a crit) and dealing Necrotic damage, as long as you can see the target and they're within 30 feet. You can do this a number of times per day equal to your Dexterity modifier (minimum 1).
The old version of this was limited to a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest, so, this is likely to mean better scaling until mid-tier-3, and then falling behind in tier 4. (I think they also generally have tried to move away from PB-scaling class features because they don't require as much class investment if you're multiclassed).
I haven't actually seen a Phantom in play (which, to be fair, describes plenty of subclasses,) but I think that this is a nice bit of extra damage for a class that probably needs a slight damage boost, and also has the added benefit of letting you put some damage on a target that either has a very high AC or on which you're struggling to get Sneak Attack. Naturally, though, in single-monster fights, this gives you nothing.
Whispers of the Dead allows you, when you finish a short or long rest, to gain an additional skill or tool proficiency until you use the feature again. This is unchanged form the Tasha's version.
Rogues of course benefit a lot from skills proficiencies, especially with Reliable Talent coming online earlier than the 2014 version.
Level 9:
Tokens of the Departed has you gain two Soul Trinkets when you finish a long rest, which last until you finish your next one, and they teleport to you if you move more than 30 feet from them. You get a third at level 13 and a fourth at level 17. You also regain an expended soul trinket if you use a reaction when a creature within 30 feet of you dies.
You can use the Soul Trinkets in the following ways:
Death's Knell lets you use Wails of the Grave without expending a use of the feature, destroying the trinket.
Life Essence means that while you have at least one Soul Trinket on you, you have advantage on Death and Constitution saving throws.
Spirit Query lets you take a Magic action to expend the trinket and cast Augury with no spell components, using Dexterity as your spellcasting ability.
So, the big change here is that you get some free Soul Trinkets every day without having to be near anything dying, which is a real buff and makes this more reliable (especially because Rogues often do want to use their reaction). The other interesting thing is that Spirit Query in the Tasha's version simply let you use up a soul trinket to ask the spirit associated with the trinket a yes-or-no question, whereas now you full-on cast the Augury spell. This is probably better, because if the spirit was of a hostile creature, they might not be all too inclined to answer truthfully.
Voice of Death lets you cast Speak with Dead once per short or long rest with no spell components, which is brand new, and thematically cool. Speak with Dead is, of course, the kind of utility spell that really depends on the adventure, but if we consider this a ribbon, that's fine.
Level 13:
Ghost Walk lets you, once per long rest, or if you destroy a soul trinket, to use a bonus action to get a fly speed of 10 feet (with hover,) a hazy form against which attack rolls have disadvantage, and incorporeal movement, for ten minutes.
While worded differently, this feature appears to be unchanged, with the sole difference being that it's no action to end it early, rather than a bonus action.
Level 17:
Death's Friend has two sub-features:
Death's Lament allows you to deal your Wails of the Grave damage to the target of your attack as well as the secondary creature.
Interestingly, I don't know that this works in a single-monster encounter, as I think you still need a second target to trigger Wails of the Grave. I'd probably change that, because this could potentially be a nice damage boost for this level.
Draw of Death gives you one soul trinket when you roll initiative with none remaining.
I like this sort of "little more gas in the tank" feature to help with long days with lots of fights.
And there we have the Phantom revamp. I believe this is all buffs, which is probably good. I've always liked the concept of the Phantom, though given that it came out with the Soulknife, I was more drawn to that subclass (and am currently playing one).
Rogues are a class that I think a lot of combat-focused theory-crafters tend to think is underpowered, but I do think their value as powerful skill-focused characters shouldn't be undervalued. And while the Wails from the Grave feature is the real headliner here, and one that is a combat enhancement, I think there's some fun utility to this class.
Really the question is how this compares with the old version, and clearly, this is a modest rejiggering rather than a thorough redesign. It's better than the old version, but I'm not extremely excited about it either.
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