Talk:Oath of Rot (5e Subclass)

• • • FOLLOWING THE REVISIONS TO THIS PAGE OVER THE PAST YEAR***

Please feel free to reflavour as much as you want, but for changing abilities and the way they work should be posed as a suggestion via notation or comment, as this subclass was created for a player who didnt feel the other subclasses worked well with his character, so when we refferred to the page we made for a rules question and found it was completely changed, it had unsettled us. i have recreated the previous subclass as https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Oath_of_the_Decaying_(5e_Subclass) seeing as it felt like its own class- Varuun.

SwankyPants while i appreciate your worry over lost progress, please see the other class you have all made together under oath of the decaying, as this class was one I made with one of my players and we would like to keep the mechanics the same so we can continue to use it, if you want to discuss major changes to the page the way you see fit, feel free to contact me through discord, with user Var'uun#6962. thank you for your understanding. --Varuun

Where this subclass stood a year ago, a good few parts of it were kinda rough. Glimpse of Death was worded incredibly strangely, and it had smaller formatting issues all over the place.

While I understand that you want to keep the old version, it's just not in a state for that to really fly on the wiki.

I'm not exactly in love with the version I made, so if you want help bringing the old version to a more stable place and replacing my version, I could help with that. --SwankyPants (talk) 07:29, 12 September 2021 (MDT)

Sounds wonderful, please reach out to me on discord so we can hurry this issue along, as i have a session in about an hour and need this issue resolved before then. Var'uun#6962 --Varuun

Since I assume you can't yet see the channels in the discord server, I'll just try to get User:Nuke_The_Earth to remove the protection, then we'll just revert it back to your version. Touch-ups can come later, I don't wanna put the stress on you to do this all in an hour. --SwankyPants (talk) 08:13, 12 September 2021 (MDT)

Rotting Essence

This feature has an unusual attribute that those who are immune to the poisoned condition have disadvantage to the roll,this is unprecedented and doesn't make much obvious sense,so at first I had thought it was a typo.Although in a way it does fit the theme of the subclass so I chose not to change it.I think if it is actually supposed to work better against immune target that fact should be highlighted with some fluff,so that people don't gloss over the ability and assume it works the wrong way. by Vladulenta (talk)

The idea was that most constructs and undead are immune to the condition. Since that's kinda what this subclass centers around, it screws them up harder. Makes sense on a meta level, although I could fluff it a bit better. --SwankyPants (talk) 08:49, 6 July 2021 (MDT)

Comments

Guess I'm gonna stop putting this off now, then.

• Siphoning Touch seems like a direct downgrade. From my understanding of it, you can spend any amount of your hitpoints(capping at your normal Lay on Hands total) to heal them for the same amount, barring when you heal yourself. Sure, having access to a 3rd level spell at 3rd level is an awfully nice bonus, but the cost does still feel steep.
• This part about bestow curse is just how I assume it should work. RAW, it doesn't, as you don't have a Lay on Hands pool anymore.
• Glimpse of Death is almost complete nonsense. For starters, hitpoints are already tracked into the negatives, and the fluff in the middle of the text doesn't help with the readability.
  • Please look at my version of this feature on the older version of this page. It basically does the same thing.
• Horseman of Pestilence is full of nitpick-esc issues. For starters, it doesn't give the horse a statblock, and you might already be mounted on a horse. The insects are also a bit odd, as requiring a bonus action to use the attack both limits dual wielders and smite spells, something very popular with paladins.
  • I'd remove the part about the horse, and just make the insects a passive aura type thing. It'll let people use other builds without gimping themselves.

Besides these things, it's mostly just format issues which I don't really have the time to point out right now. --SwankyPants (talk) 11:56, 17 September 2021 (MDT)

Changes made after comments

• "Siphoning Touch seems like a direct downgrade. From my understanding of it, you can spend any amount of your hitpoints(capping at your normal Lay on Hands total) to heal them for the same amount, barring when you heal yourself. Sure, having access to a 3rd level spell at 3rd level is an awfully nice bonus, but the cost does still feel steep. This part about bestow curse is just how I assume it should work. RAW, it doesn't, as you don't have a Lay on Hands pool anymore." --SwankyPants (talk) 11:56, 17 September 2021 (MDT)
  • Noted, changed the word Points to pool to give a better understanding. --Varuun (talk) 14:41, 17 September 2021 (MDT)

• "Glimpse of Death is almost complete nonsense. For starters, hitpoints are already tracked into the negatives, and the fluff in the middle of the text doesn't help with the readability. Please look at my version of this feature on the older version of this page. It basically does the same thing."--SwankyPants (talk) 11:56, 17 September 2021 (MDT)
  • Hitpoints are actually not tracked into the negatives, there are usually no negative hitpoints in 5e, which was a feature i quite liked in 3.5 so i suggested it to the player and they liked it. as this class is supposed to be an oathbreaker variant to the oath of ancients.
  • As for the flavor text and your previous version: I have updated the flavor text so its at the front to make it easier to read.
  • The older version allowed players to be healed or make 3 successful death saves as a quick fix to getting out of the glimpse of death, when its meant to create urgency, the feature is actually intended to act as a risk/reward type scenario, where the player may continue to fight, but the farther they go rotten the harder it is to go back. --Varuun (talk) 14:41, 17 September 2021 (MDT)

• "Horseman of Pestilence is full of nitpick-esc issues. For starters, it doesn't give the horse a statblock, and you might already be mounted on a horse. The insects are also a bit odd, as requiring a bonus action to use the attack both limits dual wielders and smite spells, something very popular with paladins."
• "I'd remove the part about the horse, and just make the insects a passive aura type thing. It'll let people use other builds without gimping themselves."--SwankyPants (talk) 11:56, 17 September 2021 (MDT)
  • Noted, I modified the text and gave the horse a statblock, things should make a bit more sense now. Limiting the insects to a bonus action was a balance thing (yes im aware its a level 20 feature) as allowing it on a free action is just an extra wackload of damage which is a tad broken. switching it to a bonus action allows for the extra damage without expending a spell slot, and while it may limit dual wielding paladins, its also a trade off.
  • i.e: if their offhand weapon can only deal 1d4, this is a clear upgrade.--Varuun (talk) 14:41, 17 September 2021 (MDT)

Okay, for future reference, please don't nest your responses inside my posts. Rereading becomes a bit of an issue.

• I actually screwed up. Could've sworn hitpoints were tracked into the negatives, hell, that's how I've always done it. My bad.
• You could reduce the damage on the insects. That could make it free, easily. Also, even if it is an upgrade, I doubt a dual wielder would want to not dual wield, plus, at that level, it's very possible they have a weapon that outdamages the insects.

I'm at work right now and these are just a few things I've spotted from a glance. I'll add more when I'm off. --SwankyPants (talk) 15:34, 17 September 2021 (MDT)

• i didnt nest my responses in yours, i copied yours over into a new section that addressed each issue you posted with a solution attached, your previous section is above under "Comments" so that other users not just you have a clear place they can direct concerns. but ill modify it so it makes more sense in the future.
• lowering the damage to account for one small playerbase doesnt make much sense, the feature as it stands now works well with the majority of people who play paladin. the dual wielders who are playing paladin are an even smaller percentage as the majority of players who play paladin, do so with a sword and shield. --Varuun (talk) 15:47, 17 September 2021 (MDT)