Even a single level dip into Undead Warlock makes a ton of sense for a Conquest Paladin. They love making people frightened and the Undead Warlock is very very good at it.

@Donovarkhallum

2 жыл бұрын

It's take three levels to get the subclass

@KesinX

2 жыл бұрын

@@Donovarkhallum Not for Warlocks.

@twicedeadmage

Жыл бұрын

​@@Donovarkhallum You get your boon at third level.

@gavinlopez6258

Жыл бұрын

But hexblade...

@Boom12

10 ай бұрын

@@gavinlopez6258 why not break the mold? Don't need to always rely on Hexblade. I've seen someone build a Paladin/Celestial Warlock character and that went great.

I think I'd heard about these two subclasses before now, but I didn't know anything about them. Just one suggestion for if you are planning to cover the rest of the subclasses by book instead of class: could you show the subclass ranking for each respective class at the end of your analysis the way you did in the class-based videos. I like seeing how all of the options stack up against each other within the class.

@ashleyien1222

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, it'd be nice to see the class ranking charts to see the comparison between other Bard / Warlock subclasses.

@dominikbasil5393

2 жыл бұрын

Cant you you just watch those videos?

@chrisvossler8795

2 жыл бұрын

@@dominikbasil5393 I have; it's nice to have it all in one place.

@dominikbasil5393

2 жыл бұрын

@@chrisvossler8795 its 10 sec a most.

I think that the idea for the Bard was that Guidance would compensate for have fewer normal uses for Bardic Inspiration.

@DaDunge

2 жыл бұрын

guidance with range.

One of the best spells on the Undead warlock's list that you didn't talk about at all was death ward. Death ward on a warlock is amazing, and it was the only redeeming facet of the Undying warlock. It lasts for 8 hours but you get spell slots back on a short rest, so if you cast it at the beginning of an adventuring day and just take a few extra hours before raiding a dungeon, your whole party can get a free final security measure.

@Mitcheck315

2 жыл бұрын

Especially great if you combine it with one of the lineages (or just an elf or warforged lol) that gives you a long rest in 4 hours

@TheBatotsu

2 жыл бұрын

Depending on the DM you can even do something that any other spell allows, stacking it multiple times on a single character.

@sqoo5

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheBatotsu No spells or abilities with the same name stack in 5e.

@TheBatotsu

2 жыл бұрын

@@sqoo5 They do but the second one dont work. If you apply bless twice in a character, he will have only one. If the first bless goes out, the second one will remain. The same happens with death ward, if the character triggers death ward by dying then the spell dissapear and the second one that was doing nothing takes place until it goes out.

@sqoo5

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheBatotsu Based on sage advice I don't believe what you said is even possible. What you described is literally them stacking, just one being in effect at a time. But it's intended for it to not stack at all, which goes against what you're saying.

My DM homebrewed the option to learn Tales from Beyond for my Spirits Bard, when getting loot he'd sometimes allow me to roll my bardic inspiration die and I'd get a scroll with the story. So long as I had it, I could auto pick that tale instead of rolling on the table. It really made that d10 inspiration die period easier to go through!

I think it’s very telling that the Undead Warlock and Fathomless Warlock both seem to have hit the sweet spot for where you like balance, and both favour this mechanic of creating a zone of danger and making it hard for your opponents to get out of it. A concept you can really capitalize on with good teamwork, as opposed to the S tier classes, which are very strong stand alone options.

DD: "we love random tables" Also DD: "we don't like the risk of a waste of the random table"

@NXPhoenix3

2 жыл бұрын

I think the difference is random tables as a side effect verses random tables as an ability's core effect. With the table as a side effect on top of regular abilities it adds fun randomness where a wiff doesn't feel like you're missing something and you can look forward to trying again to see if you get the big win. If the table IS the core of a limited resource ability then the randomness takes away from reliability and the wiff result feels like you've wasted that resource and can't risk trying again for a desirous payout. This also relates to the strength of the table's effects. If it's a random add-on to something you do anyway you're more tolerant of weak or even detrimental effects because you're not losing out on the central triggering ability you used and are likely to roll again sooner than later. If the table is the core of the ability all of the effects have to be stronger than average so even when you get a non-optimal result you still feel like you got SOMETHING worth the resource cost...and make it seem like using that resource again sooner than you usually would is worth it to chase that "big win."

@DasGreenCow

2 жыл бұрын

100%

@wititorac

2 жыл бұрын

For this one you risk losing a very important class resource for nothing. Sorcerer and Barbarian tables dont consume metamagic/rages per use.

@infra_r3d133

Жыл бұрын

Tables are great for GMs, maybe not so good for a PC

I think an interesting way they could have done the Spirits Bard table is that when the Bard gives someone inspiration, they roll the die and the ally gets imbued with the spirit of that tale, which then gets activated when they use the die. It might also be interesting to rework the table so each tale gives a different benefit depending on what type of roll the bardic inspiration is used on. As an example, perhaps for the Tale of the Runaway, it pushes the enemy away from them if they use it on an attack roll, gives them the teleport option if they use it on a saving throw, and gives them a buff to their movement speed if they use it on an ability check. Give each tale thematically appropriate options that synergize with the types of roll the inspiration is used to buff.

College of Spirits is really useful if the Bard knows how to use their table effectively and is good at improv. The key is the ability to store it: A scenario WILL come up where it can be applied well, and a good DM will find opportunities for it. You generally don't roll it mid-combat, but as a prep spell for when a fight, investigation, or social encounter is imminent, which makes the bonus action requirement moot anyway.

@josephstubbs6936

2 жыл бұрын

plus most of the effects are comparable to published spells at the cost of a bi which will recharge on a short rest

@johnbradley1139

Жыл бұрын

Also, using a crystal as a focus is very useful... *IF* your DM requires that you *PLAY* your instrument to cast with it, and you're, say, stealthing through a castle.

Undead is great on it's own, but it's also a fantastic defensive Lvl 1 dip for any melee PC. It's a nice cushion of extra temp HP and give the enemy disadvantage to help the temp HP last a little longer. Having Bane available for characters with high CON is great for just knocking dudes prone or driving home a Battle Master maneuver

@unnefer001

2 жыл бұрын

It also pairs nicely with the fey wanderer's 7th level ability. Can end up with the entire enemy party frightened of you.

@noahmehringer29

2 жыл бұрын

I feel like its a viable contender for Blade-lock Warlocks as it makes you a little tankier. Not as good as the Eldritch Blast build or Hex-Blade, but another viable option I believe. Especially with Deathward as a short rest recharge spell, you entire party could benefit from it.

@Donovarkhallum

2 жыл бұрын

Wouldn't you need three levels for the subclass. Otherwise it's just a level of warlock?

@unnefer001

2 жыл бұрын

@@Donovarkhallum Warlocks get their subclass at level 1.

@PsychoSquirrel2012

2 жыл бұрын

@@noahmehringer29 I'm going to try Blade Pact Undead, but the campaign also has guns, so I will be using an Eldritch hand-cannon instead of Eldritch Blast lol

I would absolutely say that spirits is b at the lowest. I think they're seriously undervaluing the table.

@seanferris2571

2 жыл бұрын

I agree. It's a really fun and powerful subclass plus the flavour is fantastic

Nice way to put the Subclasses in a video that ISN'T tied to the bigger class videos! Very smart, can't wait to see the Fizbans ones!

@relaxedfantasyreview

2 жыл бұрын

I'm starting my own DnD channel! Come on over for some relaxed fantasy😁

@eliadams3711

2 жыл бұрын

They already did the fizban ones

@relaxedfantasyreview

2 жыл бұрын

@@eliadams3711 they didn't do them until two weeks later, but yes! I'm glad they did

@eliadams3711

2 жыл бұрын

@@relaxedfantasyreview yeah, I’m pretty disappointed in the fizbans, monks subclass but me and my dm made changes and it’s a lot better for us now

@relaxedfantasyreview

2 жыл бұрын

@@eliadams3711 yeah that seems to be a consensus. What a shame 😞

Undead Warlock also combines really well with 7 levels of Conquest Paladin, both thematically and mechanically.

@gregorytorres1728

2 жыл бұрын

I've played this combo just recently. Did Conquest Pally 8 and 2 Undead Warlock. Plus another 1 level of Divine Soul Sorcerer. Was a really potent build with super strong fear and battlefield control mechanics.

@dolphinsniper

2 жыл бұрын

Glad to see I'm not the only one that thought of it... and ha, from the looks of it, a lot of other people did too! XD

@eliadams3711

2 жыл бұрын

Undead warlock and just a little circle of spores is really awesome too, since the circle of spores doesn’t require concentration you can rack up a bunch of temporary hit points and cool ability’s

In all honestly, I've played a bard before this subclass came out which, with a few minor cosmetic tweaks, was basically all the good parts of this subclass. I used a tarot deck, and my bardic inspiration was me telling stories etc

Remember that all the things you can get on the random table for spirits are good, most of them are better then what you could do using that inspiration a different way.

@havelockvetinari3032

2 жыл бұрын

That's what I thought. I absolutely believe that they seriously underestimated the spirits bard.

@havelockvetinari3032

2 жыл бұрын

Even counting I don't know as the worst opinion for the subclass (which I can't help but notice that did on the graph) the popular opinion was still really in b, leaning towards a. Looks like I'm not alone in disagreeing with them.

@Vordrazz

Жыл бұрын

I played a spirits bard for Strahd and it was awesome the whole way through. I honestly want to play it over in another campaign. I haven't felt like that with other subclasses.

The spirit session is fantastic. When my Paladin character died, I built a Spirits Bard flavored as a Hag. In the three sessions that we've had oh, Spirit session has paid off tremendously twice. One time I gave our Warlock a story of the traveler, that gave him extra hp, extra ac, and extra speed. Which saved him from dying under finger of death. Another time I gave tale of the clever animal to a character who isn't very good at Charisma and had to do a series of Charisma checks, and was the difference between success and failure. Most of the features on the roll table don't expire after one use they can continue to use them until it runs out. Most these features are better than what one single bardic inspiration to do on one single roll.

I'm playing a conquest paladin right now that is going to multiclass into undead warlock. I'm very much looking forward to combining aura of conquest with the ability to impose fear with every hit.

@rainme963

Жыл бұрын

And... How did it went? I want to know if it worked best than hexblade :p

This is completely just from my experience...but the college of spirits bard is amazing. It was super fun, the abilities MULTIPLE TIMES saved my party from tpk (mostly when you get the teleport, because man that is unbelievably useful). Don't get me wrong, some adventuring days I just could not get what I needed. You guys missed the aspect that with the spirit session you can get access to revivify. Very useful when you are your parties healer, which I was when I played it.

Overall I think you're underestimating the College of Spirits. There are multiple features there that I think you're not giving enough credit or missing how they'll be used in practice. For example, Summon Undead is a great option for Spirit Session which is only a level 3 spell. It's one of the best summon options and Bards normally don't get any summoning spells unless they use Magical Secrets. I agree with the community that this belongs in the B tier. That being said, I have to applaud you guys for skipping over the thing that people always seem to focus on which is that the Spiritual Focus only adds damage or healing when you cast a spell "through the focus". People tend to interpret this as only being applied to spells that have a material component and are cast using the focus instead. I think this is obviously not the intent of this ability and there is nothing in the rules that say you can't cast a spell through a focus if it doesn't have material components.

@D_Abellus

2 жыл бұрын

I have been working under the assumption as a player and DM that all spells are casted through the focus. So far, no one has really asked the question or brought up the possibility of it not being that way in my group.

Here’s my simple fix for Spirits Bard: After a rest, roll on the Spirit table to see what you get; you can now CHOOSE to expend a bardic inspiration die if you want it. You can roll again on a short or long rest.

As usual, the Dude's review, explanation, and analysis is very well done.

I'm somehow managed to avoid any info leaks on this book whatsoever so frankly I have no idea what to expect from this video and it's very exciting

@yooooo8600

2 жыл бұрын

“info leaks”? the book has been out for like half a year lol

I am a perma warlock player and this was my absolute favorite subclass. Took pact of the tome and it was so amazing.

@PedroAce

Жыл бұрын

Hope you don't mind me asking, how did pact of tome go for you? I'm new to dnd and can't decide if my undead warlock should go pact of tome or chain. A familiar seems very fun but the idea of rituals from any spell list also is enticing.

@SHINTA1035

Жыл бұрын

So I personally loved it because it amplified one of the best technical reasons to play a warlock and that is your spell slots coming back after a short rest. Usually as a warlock you run out of steam pretty quick in combat and then just eldritch blast every round and I hate that. So taking the tome pact allowed me to abuse a lot of "without using a spell slot" spells and make my character feel like a full caster. Now as always, go with the rule of cool. Play whatever you think will be the most fun. And your DM should be pretty flexible and let you make changes as you go to keep you having fun. All of those other pacts you mentioned I have also played and loved them all.

@PedroAce

Жыл бұрын

@@SHINTA1035 Thanks for the reply! That makes a lot of sense. I think I'll give that a go for my first warlock :)

I just wanted to say that I appreciate you guys

I had a GREAT time playing an undead warlock recently. One of my favorite aspects of it is in the RP potential and I actually built my warlock specifically around RP rather than combat so I did miss out on a couple of invocations that would make it even stronger mechanically, but even so it is such a satisfying class to play when things click into place just right. Highly recommend it for anyone that liked the idea of the undying but hated the execution, this subclass is infinitely better. We were playing at level 9-12 and I took the pact of the tome and aspect of the moon as one of my invocations--so I became the permanent night watch since I didn't need to sleep anymore. I mostly used the time to play cards with the goblin skeleton companion I reupped daily with the invocation that lets you cast animate dead. Strangely, the fact that I had no proficiency in perception and a -1 wisdom modifier did not inspire confidence in my fellow adventurers and very quickly I was joined on watch.

@intergalactic92

7 ай бұрын

Funnily enough I’ve just joined a game. Wanted to pick Undying, for RP reasons, until I discovered the Undead subclass whilst researching (purely by chance), so I’m playing an Undead pact of the Blade Warlock instead.

I personally am running a Dragonborn that so far has 7 levels of conquest paladin and 2 in undead warlock and he is KILLING IT! It makes for not only a strong but extremely thematic character

@CarlosTorres-vj3vh

2 жыл бұрын

Oh I was playing the same thing combo some time ago, tho I was taking Paladín only to 5th level. It's a pretty awesome combination

@freddylisy10

2 жыл бұрын

That’s awesome I was planning on bringing a paladin warlock to one of my next campaigns it’s cool to see a successful combo

I've never been this early. Keep up the great work guys! Quickly became my favorite D&D channel.

I'd like to see a Vampire Monty and Werewolf Kelly Gothic game; like What We Do in the Shadows.

I really like the College of Spirits Bard. As a player, I’m drawn to subclasses that give me a large variety of things to do on my turn. Having the ability to regularly roll for a random “spell” effect - and being able to swap a spell (albeit from a limited list) every short rest - gives me that variety. Not to mention, bardic inspiration doesn’t start feeling impactful until later levels, in my opinion. Adding a d6 or even a d8 to a roll usually shakes out to a few extra points. Sometimes that’s enough to change the outcome - but often it’s not. That said, you can make the argument that the spirit bard falls off at higher levels. But where it lacks mechanical strength, I think it makes up with fun factor.

I liked the idea of the subclass. I wasn’t sold on the abilities when I read through it. After watching this, I’m sold, very convincing on the numbers here. Thanks for opening this back up to me.

Wow that was fast. Keep up the good work guys!

Good stuff, Dudes, as always :)

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

I think that what Kelly suggested, of rolling the bardic inspiration and additionally unlocking an extra thing is a good homebrew idea. But i'd add a "cost" on it by making the output of the bardic inspiration be 1 or 2 less then the actual roll. So, if you roll a 7 on a D10 BI, you get the 7th effect from the table but only a 6 or 5 bonus to your roll. That might be a little difficult to apply to BI on other people, so another idea is to "confirm" the BI, by rolling your BI and then rolling again and if you roll equal or higher to the first die you can keep the 1st dies roll. If the second die roll is lower, the BI doesn't work. (Or simply roll the BI with disadvantage)

Best use of Spirit Bard's Tales from Beyond ability is to burn a BI slot for it first thing in the adventuring day. You get to keep that tale in mind until you decide to use it, so If you find a good opportunity to use whatever tale you get from it during the day, then use it and you can burn another BI after the encounter to have a new tale prepared for the next encounter. Otherwise, just use the tale in the last encounter you expect to have for the adventuring day or before trying to short rest. You aren't really losing anything, you are just getting a different effect to use in place of the standard BI, and only one of the possible results from the table (Tale of the Clever Animal) has is limited in its application enough to make me wish I had the BI back instead. For what its worth, the bards in most of the parties I run rarely even remember to use BI, and when they do, the inspired characters forget that they can add that extra die to their roll unless I specifically remind them. That's a problem with my players though, and probably not an issue at most other tables. The one bard player I have that remembers to use BI has resorted to spending them on Cutting Words instead. I think the bonuses from the tales are a bit more pronounced and likely to be used.

Waited so long for this

I still think they should’ve released some feywild subclasses in Wild beyond the Witchlight. How cool would an artificer who takes out their own sense of direction to do a special infusion be?

@WinterPains

2 жыл бұрын

You should make homebrew, because that actually sounds really interesting.

@oofguild7788

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks

@funnyblog100

2 жыл бұрын

Having a feywild equilvalant to shadow sorcerer would be fun.

@kennymckinney7637

Жыл бұрын

@@funnyblog100 technically Wild Magic Sorcerer is the Fey equivalent if your speaking Fey related; unless you mean more like a Witch or Hag related one?

@funnyblog100

Жыл бұрын

@@kennymckinney7637 Wild magic usually comes from limbo not the feywild.

I dig both the subclasses in this book. I'd give them both a try at some point.

Undead Warlock has given me my favorite warlock subclass. It's powerful, got options, and it is thematic as hell.

Undead Warlock "So anyway I started blasting"

My undead warlock is blade pact melee fighter using a spear and shield with polearm master (I took one level of fighter to start with to get heavy armor proficiency and con save proficiency), all those temp hit points you get from form of dread make you pretty tanky too.

Undead warlock can be a really good idea for a character following the road to become a death knight 💡 adding 1 dice to 1 attack each turn and the fear mechanic really boost a 2h warlock style character, maybe starting as lvl 1 fighter or paladin

I love the Undead Warlock with the Fey Wanderer Ranger. Spike growth and Repelling Blast is very nice!

@Booklat1

2 жыл бұрын

the combo is also doable going straight dao and taking crusher. No fear but you move enemies even more

@itspabbs

2 жыл бұрын

@@Booklat1 that's only part of why I like it. Fey Wanderer 7th level ability goes so, so well with a 2 level dip into Undead.

I’m currently playing an Undead warlock/Conquest Paladin multiclass and it’s incredibly synergistic. We’re level 10 currently, so I have 7 Paladin, 3 warlock. While in form of dread, I can constantly cause fear with my melee attacks, then aura of conquest reduces my enemies’ speed to zero, allowing me to easily crush them and lock them in place. It’s a ton of fun

I had barely heard about the Ravenloft addition until a player of mine played a Spirit Bard. It's very cool and almost all his summons have been able to save their bacon from my sadistic ass more than once.

You can give Tales From Beyond to your friends, so i think it bumps the party up in the same way as normal BI. I also feel like the Spirit Session is a bigger feature than you guys give it credit for.

To anyone in the comments: do you actually burn through your inspirations? I feel like once you get Font of Inspiration on a main Bard (which Spirits urges you to stay loyal to Bard), its kind of hard to burn through all of your BIs unless you were specifically going for one effect. Which is kind of against the spirit of the random stories and how flexible Bard is to stockhold that story until ready. I think its a B- because it has problems but I don't really see the BI limit beyond multiclassing with it: which you really shouldn't. A terrible multiclass option. That and it had a weird conflicting ruling that really limited where that d6 could apply to considering how spellcasting focuses often work.

@stephhanley3167

2 жыл бұрын

I have played many bards, and I have never run out of Bi once hitting level five. With Tasha's introduction of the Rhythm Maker's Drum which gives you +1 BI, you'll never run out. Like the Battle Master Fighter's Superiority Dice and the Warlock's Pact Magic, Tales From Beyond is a suite of spells that you can freely cast and regain on short rests. Is this better than base BI, maybe. But, it effectively doubles your volume of spells you can cast. Giving a Tale is an action, which means you can bestow a tale, and give someone BI on the same turn! So, to reiterate, Spirit bards can use two BI on a single turn! No other college can do this! Something to think about.

@flandequeso4847

2 жыл бұрын

I always try to burn through them by using them to support skill checks, because I'm aware that I'm rarely going to run out without being able to get them back on a short rest.

@barryward2128

2 жыл бұрын

No because the people I play with tend to forget they have inspiration so I tend to not bother giving it out lol

@Mary_Studios

2 жыл бұрын

If people used it more when I gave it to them from when I played a bard I probably would burn it but because people didn't I tend to use it only for cutting words when I got hurt or if another party member got hurt badly enough but that didn't happen too much because we had two fighters and one was a barbarian-fighter multiclass and I was often in the air because I was an Aaracokra.

@derekhandson351

2 жыл бұрын

My DM is letting me get an Inspiration at each level lol. I don't know how the hell I'm going to spend them all

I think the best way to improve Tales from Beyond is to allow the bard (on a long rest) to choose 6 options available to create a customized table. When the bard then uses Bardic Inspiration, they can trigger a 1d6 roll and have the corresponding option trigger until they roll again, after a short or long rest, or if the bard falls unconscious.

The spirits bard in my party used tale of the runaway to save *the entire party* from a line of radiant dragon breath, sparing everyone from a very painful hit. Super awesome ability with great potential, and guaranteed to make some fun memories.

Yeah... in my campaign we really did homebrew this subclass to make it a lot better. We now can roll on the table on any use of bardic inspiration, plus in progress buffs don't end if we roll on the table a second time.

these are my errata for college of spirits that i'm considering in my own game Tales from beyond - add. When a player uses your bardic inspiration you may use the result to determine a tale from the spirit tales table. Spirit session - add. You may choose a spell known among players you performed the ritual with.

I personally really like that the chance to get 1 in particular is harder as you level up. It's really flavourful, a bard that has their head full of so many stories they can't distinguish anymore, until they slow down and develop a way to organise them in their mind (the 14th level feature)

I have a battle master fighter 6/undead warlock 4 and putting these abilities on a martial is insane. He pinned down a black dragon in a corner while the rest of party messed it up. Top tier subclass. Also made his deal with an arch-lich so amazing role-play yied to it as well

I have an Undead Warlock. And, I love it!

So something not brought up with the bard is that the lvl 6 ability to add a d6 to a spell, was the added bit about the spell being cast through the focus. RAW a spell focus is used to replace material components in a spell. Even accounting for something you take from magical secrets, there is only one spell that restores hp with material components and that is regenerate. Which may prove to be less useful than one had hoped.

I find your videos very helpful and educational. Would you be able to have a discussion (not necessarily ranking) of all the races? I know there are a few that you lean toward on character building, but some of the newer races, and their potential builds, would make for an interesting video to me

I think one of the reasons that warlock subclasses get ranked higher by people is that most either forget it don't realize that warlocks don't actually know the expanded spell list.

@D_Abellus

2 жыл бұрын

There is an argument to be made that the reason is that the Warlock is the only one that has that caveat and of course people wouldn't realize its the only one because the rules are usually very consistent on the expanded spell lists anyway. The better question is if that line of text is ruled in Adventurer's league? If its not at those with some DM's but others rule it so, then I see that caveat as more of a optional mechanic.

@brettonalwood4173

2 жыл бұрын

@@D_Abellus As someone who played in adventures League for around half a year I can tell you that most of the DM there also don't realize it. Officially though it is supposed to be that way. While they are allowed to use several optional rules in Al they are supposed to stick to raw.

@D_Abellus

2 жыл бұрын

@@brettonalwood4173 Oh I get that. I think the rules should probably then be made more clear that Warlocks are an exception to the rule, or have the exception removed entirely, because its clear that as written its not clear enough.

A very simple (homebrew but main game and balance friendly, I'd argue) solution to the Tales from Beyond problem, where you roll your inspiration die to get a random effect, is to allow players the option - if they want - of rolling a lower level bardic die on the table. For instance, if somebody has a bard with a D8 inspiriation die, they could choose to either roll a D8, D6 or a D4 on the table. Picking a smaller die does mean locking yourself out of bigger abilities, but it ensures more reliability with the weaker abilities. If players want the better abilities, they have to gamble for them, but if they just want something specific from the lower end of the tree, they can choose to roll a smaller die to increase their chances.

One thing that I think should be mentioned about the undead warlock: if I understood spirit projection right, you could pop out of your body, have a party member cast invisibility on you, and now you're an *invisible, flying ghost with some damage resistance that can move through walls*. The spying potential is huge, but even better, if you can manifest your body wherever your spirit is, you can infiltrate fit to put a rogue to shame. Dealing with a castle siege? Float on into the gatehouse, bamf your body in after you, open the gate and dimension door back out. On the defending side of a siege? Float invisibly on down to the enemy commander's tent while they're sleeping, bypassing the guards, and gank them, or at least take your best shot and then just poof back to your body.

Finally got round to this. I live the umdead warlock, but it has hexblade syndrome, its a very strong dip, particularly for conquest paladins

as other's have said, it'd be great if you also included the how it matches up w/other subclasses graphics on these

A good homebrew solve for the limitation of Divination and Necromancy spells would be: The first time anyone else joins your seance for a spell from a particular school, they have a 75% chance to take 1 psychic damage for each level of the learned spell. You can pick from any school, and if you have the exact same people for a lvl 1 Divination before doing a lvl 4 Divination, they each take 1 damage the first time then no damage the times following

In the UA, the 14th level spirits Bard ability allowed you to roll an infinite amount of times on the table so long as you used a d6.

Shit I was waiting for this, thanks DDudes!

Form of the Dread and grave touched affect each attack that hits! Combined whith Fey Wanderer's Begulling Twist you become the embodiment of the nightmare !

I do the bardic inspiration as “roll your d6, if you like it use it and stop rolling, if you are allowed to roll another die and didn’t use the d6 result roll it.”So you roll 6, decide, 8 decide, 10 decide depending on your level those low levels are available and you have more access. All with one point spent.

I play an undead pact warlock and I describe it as a barbarian-like warlock. It is SO good and I love the roleplay aspect of it.

I think if they did 1 level of exhaustion OR can't replenish for 1d4 would have been ok, but both is a bit much.

Undead warlock also makes a real strong Frontline controller with pact of blade and a paladin multiclass with oaths of conquest

I have to say letting magic users have unique foci is one of the best ways to make a distinct magic user. A candle in place of a wand for instance grants a light source as a cantrip and as the DM that light source can do whatever you want. It can cast anything from normal candlelight to giving only your party members true sight up to 500 feet (OP I know it is just to make a point) the most creative I have seen is the body of a ferret, it had the ability of being able to move around like a normal ferret if in a 5-foot radius of the caster. and yes the spells did come out of the ferret itself, it was at once overpowered and a major handicap. Being that the creature was not healed it could be easily kicked away from the caster and after it got 5 feet away it turned into a rigid ferret corpse.

I can’t wait to play the warlock subclass

Really really easy fix for Spirits is just to make the feature a number of uses per day equal to prof mod. Also just make Spirit Session give you an extra single spell a day, that would actually be powerful and fun. Getting ANY 5th level or below spell is such good flexibility for THE flexibility spellcaster.

Regarding the Tales From Beyond interaction with temporary hit points, I would rule it as an instantaneous effect, and even if you were to roll on the Spirits Table the target would retain the temporary hit points as usual. Most of the tales specify a duration, 1 minute, end of its next turn, etc. Tale of the Traveler specifies that the target gains temporary hit points, but gives no duration. It could be argued that the speed and AC increase would be an effect of the tale and cease if you were to role on the table, but I would rule it as a feature of those temporary hit points that would continue while the temporary hit points remained.

A good idea with the Spirit Projection is then to have one of your teammates to stuff your body into a Bag of Holding to avoid it being damaged, since you don't need to breathe you can't suffocate in there.

Something I didn't realize until watching this, is that a strategy I'd heard with the Spirit Projection ability is to use it with Vampiric Touch for 1-to-1 life drain (50% from Vampiric Touch, 50% from Spirit Projection). Unfortunately, this strategy can't work because both Spirit Projection and Vampiric Touch require Concentration so they can't both be active at the same time.

kind of a side note - if I was going to modify the wizard necromancer subclass, I would give the player the option to cause fear with spells and cantrips much like the undead warlock can while in its form of dread. I can foresee 1 million % more times that would be useful rather than 3 hp of healing when you are at full hit points from casting a fireball.

In my Curse of Strahd game (spoilers ahead) when my party found the Tome of Strahd I decided that it unlocked Irena's ability to be college of spirits bard. It works very well for an NPC in a support role for the party.

A 1 level dip into the warlock subclass alone is a great choice, even if you dont have a particularly good charisma score. Any melee class will find frequent use for it as a multi class.

I'm really excited to see Laudna playing the subclass in Critical Role! Some of those later abilities are definitely going to lead to some crazy shenanigans.

@lmungillo

2 жыл бұрын

I was thinking the same thing! Is Dorian a spirits bard?

@RobearRich

2 жыл бұрын

@@lmungillo I think he is a College of Swords bard.

@Phiro00

2 жыл бұрын

She multiclassed into shadow sorcerer and i believe as her latest level up she took a sorcerer level. Seems like she wont prioritize warlock levels much.

@anix712

2 жыл бұрын

@@RobearRich thus far, we really have no idea what subclasses he is. He certainly *plays* like a swords bard, but he's never used the swords bards maneuver things (the name escapes me atm), which he would definitely have at his level.

@malogranatum4914

2 жыл бұрын

@@anix712 “Flourishes,” I think they’re called. Sounds right at least.

Deathward being on the spell list I think is really good. A Cleric needs to burn a Valuable 4th level slot to set that up where as the Warlock can spam it twice at the beginning of the day, take a short rest, and now 2 party members basically have the Half-orc's endurance and you have all your slots back. Makes you pretty decent at support. Getting Bane as well without needing an Invocation is also nice.

*Thank you for adding the i don't know option .* *( It should have always been a option , see the % of people using it ) .*

I have a Yuan ti warlock. I used the necrotic husk as it was her shedding her skin

It would be helpful to post a picture of all of the possible abilities, for example for the college of spirits.

Why does the Undead Pact at higher level, where you don't need to breathe/eat/drink, and you conjure your spirit, sounds like you want to be buried near the site of operation and then basically fight from your grave? Six feet deep, your body is practically safe from everything, and you have one hour for the combat encounters or other shenanigans. Want to rescue someone from prison? Just float in and Misty Step out with the willing creature. Someone has to die in a heavy fortified structure? Float in, ignore all the guards, surprise attack your target and kill it. Bonus points for a Cloud Kill in the barracks on the way out.

@shikichaos

2 жыл бұрын

You can also be cheeky AF and have someone put your body into a bag of holding and leave it there until you have to go back into it and then just have it come to you.

One thing about the level 6 ability for Spirits bards, you can summon a bunch of undead and then use those in the Spirit Session. That makes picking the spell you want at higher levels much easier. Your party can take a short rest, and you and your undead buddies can do the Spirit Session. It makes it much easier. I'm not sure if this is cheesy, a good interaction, or intended. I'm leaning to a cool interaction though. Not sure if it bumps it up to a B but I do think it sounds like a fun way to play.

@dnddetective

2 жыл бұрын

You are still limited by your proficiency bonus. Unless you are playing with less than 4 people in your party this effectively this doesn't do anything for you until pretty high levels.

@geekchicgamer3951

2 жыл бұрын

@@dnddetective Correct, but it does make finding willing participants easier. The proficiency bonus limit is a bummer though. Bards can already kinda do this. I'd have been nice if it was just based on highest level spell slots.

I'm currently playing a spirit bard thats fresh out of police academy and this is set during the victorian era.

I'd love to see a tiering of the races

@Liberaven

2 жыл бұрын

That's historically gone well.

@Booklat1

2 жыл бұрын

@@Liberaven Nothing wrong has come out of arians rating themselves SS, what do you mean? (ffs this is a joke people of the interwebs)

I was just going to let the Bard roll 2 dice to choose their Tale from (3 dice at level 9) and allow a second effect while not have the previous effect diminish if a different target. It is then not the tale being told through you, but one of the spirits goes to whisper it to the recipient. It becomes "A" tier for me after that.

You forgot the HUGE amount of healing you can receive from the Spirit Projection feature. Combined with the resistances you become extremely hard to kill. Also the undead warlock was definitely created with the idea of being able to go fight with spells like vampiric touch and do very well.

I love how it takes you guys 5 minutes to fix a subclass in simple ways.

I know traditionally you both only review official products, but I’m curious if you guys would consider some of the more popular or received third party content for review. Example being, MCDM and their two classes, the “Illrigger” and the newly released “Beastheart”. They also have their own slue of subclasses as well and some new mechanics that is love to see your views and thoughts on. If not that’s cool too, keep up the great work. You guys give excellent content weekly and I’ve come to respect your rankings as some of the most fair on KZread.

I wonder what an oathbreaker paladin/undead pact warlock would look like? I could see an NPC like this be a powerful lieutenant for a main NPC

@KnicKnac

2 жыл бұрын

Undead + Conquest Paladin. Fear monger build for a fun mini boss.

@Booklat1

2 жыл бұрын

My thoughts as well. I just wan't an evil guy that smites with necrotic damage like a motherfucker

My favorite idea with the undead warlock: a conquest paladin/undead warlock using the new dragonborn race from Fizban's, in service to a dracolich

I play this with Dhampir lineage . Neat combo.

@artzivon

Жыл бұрын

Undead

I am playing a Undead patron warlock and funny enough I didnt even think of doing a blaster. I went pact of the blade and used the Temp HP to be a Tanklock. Using thing like two weapon combat with a pact weapon short sword and off hand dagger with hex to deal damage and then the frighten and war caster to make them stay at disadvantage to attack and then opportunity attack with booming blade hex damage on top of the weapon damage

i was thinking that as a wrap-up on the subclass rankings would you be willing to take a look at all the class ranks in a single episode so that people can see if you think any changes are needed

Multiclassing with Oath of Conquest offers potential.

'perhaps we judged it too harshly' Uh yes. Definitely - I've been playing it for several months and the tales are great. I do have a forgiving DM who has given me a magic item that recharges bardic inspiration which gets over the opportunity cost of using tales but still even before that the randomness was worth embracing. Also the seance feature is great too. I think there was too much emphasis in the video on having too few pcs to obtain decent spells - with 6 in the party you do get something like eyebite or even at 3rd level you get summon undead. There's loads of good divination spells too. And if you are short on people, RPing grabbing people off the street for a seance or forcing captured kobolds to take part. It says 'willing creatures' but a kind of cake or death scenario can ensue. I love this subclass for the 'I see dead people' alone.

Doing the undead warlock and taking 2 levels into circle of spores is incredible.

We have both the Undead and the Undying Warlock, but neither have access to a non-Invocation Animate Dead. (The one exception by allowing background spells from the Golgari of the Ravnica book.)