Talk:Path of the Dark Lord (5e Subclass)

If I can get any help would like to finish this subclass. Thanks

At first level, you replace unarmored defense (10 + Dex + Con) with 13 + Dex (min 1) + Con (min 1). That is extremely powerful in a bounded accuracy system like 5e--entire characters would be build around getting together a bonus like that. And then at the same level, raging gives you resistance to all damage types except for magical weapons (which is itself confusing--what about other sources of magical damage? Does it treat fire damage from a flaming longsword different than from a fireball? There's a reason nothing else has mechanics that are phrased this way.) Vulnerability to silvered weapons doesn't even come close to balancing all that.

Then at tenth level, you get three cantrips from any spell list, add Constitution for to-hit and damage. That means I can pick up Eldritch Blast and be a better Warlock than a Warlock (Why better? Because instead of casting from Charisma, which doesn't do much else, I'm casting with Constitution, which I can A) max out at 24 instead of just 20, B) add to my d12 HD for even more hitpoints, and C) add to my AC.) So this leaves us in a very weird spot, because we have this insanely powerful spellcasting feature... on a barbarian... who can't cast spells while raging. There's no synergy. That doesn't balance anything, by the way, it just means the feature is broken and doesn't fit into the rest of the kit. As for "the remainder of their life is added to your own [...]", there's no details about what that even means (in-universe or in-game) and I seriously doubt it would be possible to write any such mechanics without being incredibly broken. Again, there's a reason nothing else has mechanics like this.

And finally, at 14th level, you get "cursed" with a petrifying gaze. The gaze is based on the Medusa's Petrifying Gaze, but that's not available to PCs under normal circumstances, to my knowledge. Flesh to Stone, which is a 6th level spell, is the closest we can get. It retains the "fail by 5 or more" mechanic from Petrifying Gaze, but it's had the DC bumped and switched from a Con save (generally one of the higher saves) to an Int save (generally one of the lowest), which is an incredibly powerful buff and would make this feature broken on it's own. Also note that this does not involve casting a spell, so it can be done while raging.

As it stands, this subclass is far too powerful, and needs a total overhaul. I would also like to point out that voting your own homebrew 5/5 stars when it's so clearly in need of work is bad form. —Salasay ♄ 12:52, 27 March 2023 (MDT)

I did in fact vote it once five stars, however, I did not do the second one. I will not budge on the first one, however before you even wrote this some abilities and or powers were phased out. If you would care to make some actual ability suggestions instead of just critiquing the current work I would be open to it. Also, it's based on Bassilakes not Medusa, and I will introduce a lower one

There were edits after my post that removed the cantrips feature, that much is true. Replacing it with skill proficiencies as the 10th level feature is... okay, I guess? It's a bit of a non-sequitur, but it isn't broken.

Your further edits have switched the petrification DC from a flat 16 to 10 + Con, which... is not an improvement. Your Con is going to be +5 by then, so the DC is only going to be 1 point lower, and your Con is going to max out at +7 which is higher. And my point about Int saves vs Con saves still stands. You've also removed the limit on how often you can petrify people, and explicitly stated that you cannot accidentally petrify yourself (which both the Medusa and the Basilisk have to worry about.) So, this ability is now stronger than when I originally critiqued it. I also failed to point out that this feature is missing the option for targets to avert their eyes if they aren't surprised, an option present for both the Medusa and the Basilisk (while it's obviously themed after the Basilisk, this feature is more mechanically in line with the Medusa. See, instant petrification on a save failed by 5 or more, and the higher save). If you're going to mimic an extant mechanic—which is a great way to go about making your own stuff—just copy the wording and keep your changes minimal, careful, and deliberate. Removing swathes of the wording and switching the save type arbitrarily isn't the way to do it.

As for the nature of my suggestions—I am not helping you write this class, I am helping you edit it. I will help you make sure that your ideas are balanced, that they work, and that they're worded well, but the ideation itself is your job. —Salasay ♄ 14:47, 28 March 2023 (MDT)

Also, please sign your posts with " --~~~~ " —Salasay ♄ 14:50, 28 March 2023 (MDT)

I just don't really get what you're trying to go for here, setting aside the wacky balance. The name Dark Lord carries a lot of obvious baggage. Not "morally dubious" or "righteous warrior", it implies pure evil. All of the fluff following this seems to just contradict the name. The main crux of the subclass is defensive abilities, which also gives a vunerability to silvered weapons, almost exclusively reserved for fiends and lycanthropes, again implying deep rooted evil. At the end they get a basilisk feature, which implies beastial traits potentially in-line with silvered vunerability, but if so, then this page leans towards an entirely different concept. I really don't know. The name, fluff, and features imply completely seperate concepts, none of which really work together. From my end, it just seems jumbled together from conflicting ideas. --SwankyPants (talk) 15:38, 28 March 2023 (MDT)