Rogues have always been one of the more inherently "dark" classes, despite not (at least at base) having magical capabilities. The Phantom's primary subclass feature allows you to deal a little extra damage to secondary targets, which not only helps with the Rogue's actually slightly low damage output (which you might not realize is even an issue for them unless you do a lot of complicated math) but also gives you some "cleave" that martial classes rarely get.
The Phantom is also dripping with flavor, especially when you start collecting trinkets from dead foes.
Now, I've heard that people felt the subclass wasn't buffed as much as it should have been. Also, after a cursory glance at it, I'm not even sure what they changed, so let's go in and compare and contrast and see how we think of the Phantom now.
Level 3:
Wails from the Grave:
When you deal Sneak Attack damage to a creature on your turn, you can target a second creature you can see within 30 feet of the first creature. Roll half your Sneak Attack dice (rounded up) and the secondary creature takes Necrotic damage equal to the roll. You can use this Dex times per long rest.
Two subtle changes: First, you can only use this on your turn, while the other allowed you to get it on a reaction attack. Given its limited uses, I don't know that that's a huge issue, but it might be bigger later on. The other, even subtler one, is that it used to use your PB rather than Dex modifier. This means more uses early on, but fewer uses in tier 4. That trade is probably worth it. It is only about 3 uses per day, and the damage isn't massive - it caps out at 5d6, which is decent but not huge at level 19. In a tier 1-2 campaign, we're talking never more than about 10 damage.
Whispers of the Dead:
When you finish a short or long rest, you can choose one skill or tool proficiency you lack and gain it, losing it when you use this to gain a different one.
Flexible proficiency is certainly useful, especially on a Rogue. I suspect most often this will just linger on the same option most of the time. But this is, I think, brand-new, so it's nice to have. Just gotta figure out which skill you're likely to need.
Level 9:
Tokens of the Departed:
You gain two Soul Trinkets (tiny objects that might have a randomly determined appearance/form) that will always linger within 30 feet of you. They grant the following:
Death's Knell: When you deal Sneak Attack damage on your turn, you can destroy one of your soul trinkets to use Wails of the Grave without expending a use of it.
Life Essence: While you have at least one soul trinket, you have advantage on Death and Constitution saving throws.
Spirit Query: You can take a magic action to destroy one soul trinket and cast Augury without spell components and using Con as your spellcasting ability. If you know the creature that the trinket was associated with, you can ask the creature's spirit one question instead of casting the spell. In this case, the spirit appears to you and answers concisely as possible in a language it knew in life.
When a creature you can see within 30 feet of you dies, you can use a reaction to gain another Soul Trinket. You can have a maximum of two trinkets at a time, and this maximum goes to 3 at level 13 and 4 at level 17.
When you finish a long rest and have fewer than 2 trinkets, you gain them until you have 2.
So, this is a really important mechanic, primarily to let you use Wails of the Grave more often. For that reason, I really wish that you got this at level 3. This is honestly just a problem with Rogues overall (something I really wish they'd fixed in 5.5,) which is that subclasses have to wait an insane time to get their second subclass features. Couple changes here: first, the old version didn't let you cast Augury, which is a pretty nice spell to have (basically to ask the DM "is what I'm about to do a bad idea?") But the nerf here is that you can carry fewer trinkets. It's not always easy to do, but Rogues generally like to have their reaction ready for some kind of opportunity attack, or for Uncanny Dodge, and while I don't think you're going to need to use this every turn, I also wish that it didn't take your reaction to get a soul trinket.
Ah, one detail I initially missed is that the old version didn't give you any "free" soul trinkets until you hit level 17 (and then only 1 per long rest). So this is nice.
Voice of Death:
You can cast Speak with Dead without a spell slot, and requiring no spell components, using Dexterity as your spellcasitng modifier (why does Augury use Con? Also, in what way does a spell without a DC or attack even need a modifier?) You can do this once per short or long rest. Also, when you cast the spell, you can target one of your soul trinkets instead of a corpse, speaking with the spirit of the creature it's from.
This is new, and is some pretty cool and flavorful utility. I do think this will mean you're going to have to track where you got your trinkets, and DMs will have to figure out if there's anything interesting that that random Werewolf #3 knew. But it's certainly in-flavor for you to be able to interrogate the dead.
Level 13:
Ghost Walk:
As a bonus action, you can take on a spectral form for 10 minutes or until you end it. You can do this once per long rest, or can destroy a soul trinket to restore its use. While transformed, you get a fly speed of 10 feet and can hover, attack rolls have disadvantage against you, and you can pass through creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain (taking 1d10 force damage if you end your turn within an object).
Very subtle change, but it is a buff: you used to have to use a bonus action to end this (though there's no real detriment to using all 10 minutes). The fly speed can be useful, but probably won't see much use in combat. Still, this is a nice thing to have, and pretty flavorful.
Level 17:
Death's Friend:
You get the following:
Death's Lament: When you use Wails of the Grave, the primary target also takes the Necrotic damage.
This is the same as before. I wish you had the option to burn this even if a secondary target wasn't in sight, which wouldn't deal as much overall damage but would make the feature usable in a solo-monster boss fight. Alas.
Draw of Death: When you roll initiative, you gain a soul trinket if you have none remaining.
This replaces something that was incorporated into the Tokens of the Departed, but it means that you'll always be able to use at least one use of Wails of the Grave per combat, which is nice. Oddly, I actually think you're better off burning soul trinkets before using your "free" uses of the feature in order to benefit from this.
Overall Thoughts:
So, I always liked the Phantom, even if I was drawn more to the Soulknife when Tasha's came out. This does have a lot of fun utility, and I think that the revision here is definitely a buff, even if some wish that it would have been buffed farther.
The added spells here are nice: Speak with Dead is certainly situational, but can be very helpful. For DMs, I'd say make sure that you're giving the Phantom plenty of fights with multiple foes, both so that they can make use of their extra damage and also recharge their Soul Trinkets.
No comments:
Post a Comment