Many have said that so I've got a good feeling that they'll do that. Though they'd probably try to shoot for "A", which they've mentioned is their gold standard. An "S" tier archetype in their list is usually an archetype that's borderline game breaking or is just so good that it potentially outshines other class archetypes. Like how they've mentioned Battle Master completely outclasses the Arcane Archer in almost every scenario, to the point where you'd only take Arcane Archer over Battle Master for the flavor, and the Battle Master isn't even that broken compared to other "S" tier archetypes other classes have. Around "A" tier is the level most archetypes should shoot for as it gives a lot to the class but isn't so great that it doesn't blow every other non "A" tier/ high "B" tier archetype out of the water.
As someone who religiously loves the concept of calligraphy, tattoos, and markings, Runes have always spoke to me magically. So Rune Knight very quickly shot itself to be one of my favorite archetypes. It can be sneaky with a rogue flair or more beefy with a touch of Barbarian and neither hold you back.
Man, I wish I could feel like you. When I heard about it, I was super excited. But it feels like a half-child of rune knight and a giant warrior, two subclasses that I feel really have enough potential to be separate, complete, subs, maybe even classes. There are a lot of abilities that I wish we could use with runes that we can't, like rune traps, and rune enchantments of people.
I felt the same way. But then again, you could play an eldrich knight and flavor your spells as runes just as easily. I currently have a half orc warlock who uses runes for all his spells. I flavor his eldrich blast as a magic bow, and his spells all shoot out of the bow depending on which runes he chooses. In fact the bow itself is a magical energy that comes from the bindrunes on his left arm
Goblin Path of the Beast/Rune Knight. Stealth and climb onto the ceiling above the big bad, giant's might then land on the big bad? Then use Fury of the Small while Large/Huge?
I actually did this in a one off game. I played a fairy Rune Knight with 3 levels of Wizard for Enlarge/Reduce. I became a HUGE fairy and sank a boat, it was so much fun
The rune knight feels like they wield “old magic”. I think a fun RP would be to come from a isolationist tribe of “magic users”. The runes are their magic. You could use a feat to take magic initiate to expand slightly on your magical capabilities.
I played a Rune Knight Warforged kinda based on this. A mad wizard brought him to life with old magic. The secret to his existence was pulled from Fullmetal Alchemist. The wizard used old magic to bind a human soul to a Warforged body.
Yeah I'm actually running pretty much that. It also ties in with xenophobia against giants/giantkin (ogres, orcs, goliaths, etc). Their magic was banned by this society that prioritises holy magic and tolerates arcane magic
I didn’t for this one, but I’ve gotten a handful so far. Maybe 3? I didn’t even skip it last time... even though I’ve seen it and already pitched in on the Kickstarter
I'm running a campaign with a Rune Knight and I can tell you that the Cloud Rune is crazy strong sometimes. Big scary monster rolls a crit on your wizard? NOPE he is now critting on his own minion regardless of if they are even next to him!
There were so many times I turned my DM's glee into anguish with a well timed cloud rune! Oh I'm so very sorry, but instead of knocking our ranger you just killed your own mount! I guess that means your big mean boss is prone after the fall...oops? And then there was the time I redirected a crit on our wizard to our own paladin because there were no other enemies or creatures in sight and I knew he could take the hit. That was some party drama!
@@brandonskoubo5176 I had a game where my brother was playing a rune knight and my character gets hit by a flaming whip from a balrog, but he said nope and that balrog found he struck and pulled one of his allies instead.
Updated tier list (regarding both The Dungeon Dudes and the users): S TIER - Path of the Totem Warrior (Barbarian) - College of Lore (Bard) - Peace Domain (Cleric) - Twilight Domain (Cleric) - Circle of the Moon (Druid) - Battle Master (Fighter) - Echo Knight (Fighter) - Gloom Stalker Conclave (Ranger) - Aberrant Mind (Sorcerer) - Clockwork Soul (Sorcerer) - Divine Soul (Sorcerer) - The Hexblade (Warlock) - School of Divination (Wizard) A+ TIER - Armorer (Artificer) - Life Domain (Cleric) - *Rune Knight* (Fighter) - Oath of Vengeance (Paladin) - Arcane Trickster (Rogue) - Swashbuckler (Rogue) - The Fiend (Warlock) - Bladesinging (Wizard) - Chronurgy Magic (Wizard) A TIER - Artillerist (Artificer) - Battle Smith (Artificer) - Path of the Ancestral Guardian (Barbarian) - Path of the Zealot (Barbarian) - College of Eloquence (Bard) - Forge Domain (Cleric) - Grave Domain (Cleric) - Light Domain (Cleric) - Tempest Domain (Cleric) - Circle of the Shepherd (Druid) - Eldritch Knight (Fighter) - Way of the Open Hand (Monk) - Way of Shadow (Monk) - Oath of the Ancients (Paladin) - Oath of Conquest (Paladin) - Oathbreaker (Paladin) - Beast Master Conclave (TCE) (Ranger) - Horizon Walker Conclave (Ranger) - Scout (Rogue) - Shadow Magic (Sorcerer) - School of Abjuration (Wizard) - School of Enchantment (Wizard) - Order of Scribes (Wizard) B+ TIER - Cavalier (Fighter) - *Psi Warrior* (Fighter) - Way of the Kensei (Monk) - Oath of Devotion (Paladin) - Oath of Redemption (Paladin) - Draconic Bloodline (Sorcerer) - Wild Magic (Sorcerer) - The Archfey (Warlock) - The Celestial (Warlock) - School of Evocation (Wizard) - School of Illusion (Wizard) - School of Necromancy (Wizard) B TIER - Alchemist (Artificer) - Path of the Storm Herald (Barbarian) - College of Glamour (Bard) - College of Valor (Bard) - Nature Domain (Cleric) - Order Domain (Cleric) - Trickery Domain (Cleric) - War Domain (Cleric) - Circle of Dreams (Druid) - Circle of the Land (Druid) - Champion (Fighter) - Samurai (Fighter) - Way of the Long Death (Monk) - Oath of Glory (Paladin) - Hunter Conclave (Ranger) - Assassin (Rogue) - Mastermind (Rogue) - Thief (Rogue) - The Great Old One (Warlock) - School of Conjuration (Wizard) C+ TIER - College of Swords (Bard) - College of Whispers (Bard) - Arcana Domain (Cleric) - Death Domain (Cleric) - Knowledge Domain (Cleric) - Circle of Spores (Druid) - Arcane Archer (Fighter) - Way of the Drunken Master (Monk) - Oath of the Crown (Paladin) - Monster Slayer Conclave (Ranger) - Inquisitive (Rogue) - Storm Sorcery (Sorcerer) - Graviturgy Magic (Wizard) - School of Transmutation (Wizard) - War Magic (Wizard) C TIER - Path of the Battlerager (Barbarian) - Path of the Berserker (Barbarian) - Way of the Sun Soul (Monk) D+ TIER - The Undying (Warlock) D TIER - Banneret/Purple Dragon Knight (Fighter) - Way of the Four Elements (Monk) - Beast Master Conclave (PHB) (Ranger)
This is awesome! I love to see compiled lists. That being said, unless they've changed it and I didn't catch it, the Dudes ranked the Oath of Vengeance Paladin an "S" in the original video.
@@gigantisaurusrex6647 think they take the community ranking into account, meaning some subclasses may be bumped up or down between the dudes’s opinions and the community opinion
When I first saw the subclass, my mind immediately went to a kobold rune knight. Not only is it a three foot kobold quadrupling in height, but kobolds typically worship dragons, and the rune knight is giant themed. Since giants and dragons are typically enemies, this would make for some great storylines
Another fun thing about the Rune Knight is that you eventually get to grapple a f***ing Tarrasque with +13 and advantage (as well as giving it disadvantage on its athletics check)
Fun thing to do at high level, when a rune knight uses giant stature to become HUGE, have the party spellcaster throw enlarge on top of that, now your fighter is gargantuan
@@grantpflum6844 only if they hate fun. I allow my players to do anything they can logically justify, I just use employ even more cheese to counter it.
@@jagd7102y dm did a norse dnd and I was a frost giant path of the giant barbarian. I was 8ft tall and he would have be double my height to 16ft to large then 32 for huge. The final fight was my Barbarian Thorgan(32ft) fighting Odin who made a bifrost mech thing to fight me at equal height. Unfortunately for him I was given a ability called Godly rage which put me at the same level or above the norse gods. If I met 3 conditions. I had to be fighting a god,a family member had to be killed or threatened to be killed and I needed to be below half health. Essentially since I was the final Giant left all the giant magic left in norse mythology resided in me and when godly rage would activate I would then have access to that magic which would massive amp my physical abilities. Plus I also struck a deal with a primordial flame before the final battle which bumped my str to a 30
I would like to imagine a dwarf getting teased for his height at his job in the city, he goes on an adventure and comes back as a big fuck off rune knight
Actually have a concept made of a runt dwarf leaving to adventure with a chip on his shoulder to prove himself but even after his growth he's still made that most other races are taller especially his Goliath friend lol 😂
I have a level 6, 5’ tall Mountain Dwarf RK and am hoping to roll high on the stature feature and get close to 6’ tall so he can go back to his family and .. dwarf.. them ;)
I played a rune knight in a level 12 one shot. We didn't know what we were going up against, but it ended up being against an ancient white dragon. Turns out, if you enlarge yourself, your wizard can then cast enlarge on you to raise your size again, making you only one size smaller than an ancient dragon. So with my expertise in athletics and advantage on strength checks, I had that thing grappled for 3 turns before it finally broke out. Granted, I was feared and useless for the rest of the fight, but it still turned our "you guys are screwed" one shot into a victory.
Cloud Rune's reaction is god damn incredible. Or at least it feels amazing using it on crits. Hey Grave Domain I heard you like cancelling crits - what if I just decide that crit hits someone else 30ft. away instead?
And their 7th level ability "Runic Shield" also helps prevent crits. Basically silvery barbs on a stick a few times a day for anything that is an attack role. This is easily the best tank that doesn't have any sort of taunt feature, and it might be the best tank when compared to those too. Battlefield control unmatched by any other martial imo.
I started playing DND this year and played 4 sessions only but I feel like I have been playing for years because I watched almost every fucking video of this channel, you are awesome guys
I have a similar story. I've only done maybe 8 or so sessions and have one level 4 character, but I've spent so many hours reading wiki pages, coming up with characters, watching videos, discussing on reddit, all that. I feel like it's something I want to do for the rest of my life.
For the psi warrior you get to use telekinetic movement and psi-powered leap once per short rest or expend a die do use it again. And the telekinetic master says you only have to concentrate on telekinesis to get the bonus action attack. Just clearing up some wording I agree with your guys placement.
I'm so glad they added in Rune Knight to basically make Grappler builds not only viable but fun as well. Plus it plays into the 'superheroics' type deal at high level where you're the huge size beefy boi that's smashing aside normal opponents and straight up wrasslin' ancient dragons.
@@luketfer I made a Rune Knight Goblin with a greatsword (it was from the paladin but she died) it was hilarius use Fury of the Small, Hide as a bonus action and the moment they found you BAM! GIANT GOBLIN!!!
Great video! I'm a big fan of the Rune Knight and I think there's some more fun aspects to the subclass that you guys didn't mention. I think there's a strong argument that it is one of if not the best grapplers in the game. Giant's Might buffs you to large and huge sizes which means that you can grapple enemies that you wouldn't normally be able to without enlarge/polymorph. The frost rune gives a flat +2 bonus which is rare and stacks with both proficiency and advantage/disadvantage and last 10 minutes so it can be activated before combat, like as you enter a dungeon and can power through possibly multiple combat encounters. Eventually the storm rune can also give advantage/disadvantage to make sure enemies stay grappled and at later levels the +5 ft range makes it really hard to be out of range. Finally the fighter can make more attacks in a turn than any other class ensuring that you not only get the grapple off but can also capitalize by shoving them prone and attacking them with advantage. I also think you guys overlooked the cloud rune ability which is wholly unique in the game. It transfers any attack after you know it hits to any other creature within 30 ft of you. Very importantly it doesn't require any kind of save so it's incredibly reliable and can transfer the attack regardless of the original range. As a defensive tool it's incredible shutting down powerful spells like contagion or inflict wounds, or attacks with additional effects like tarrasque's bite or any poisonous attacks, it stops critical hits, attacks on downed allies and attacks that would break concentration. If there are other enemies around it can redirect the attack to them or redirect it to you so you can tank a hit. It also has another sneaky mode as a way to give you or an ally within 30ft an attack of 30ft of you. If you hit enemy with an attack you can transfer that attack to another creature with 30ft of you. This attack ignores the normal ranged penalty if you have an enemy with melee range of you and can even transfer over advantage you may have had from the first attack. This allows you to attack at range without having to risk opurtunity attacks, ignores all cover and doesn't even require line of sight to the target. The offensive mode does seem much more niche than the defensive options but the fact that the ability has soooo much flexibility and is is incredibly reliable makes it fantastically good. Only limited by the 1 or 2 uses/short rest and the use of a reaction. The Rune Knight is one of the few non-magical classes/subclasses that I'm actually excited to play. I think they really nailed the design
One AMAZING ability you overlooked with the psi warriors telekinetic movement that nobody else has mentioned is being able to expose enemies behind cover. For example, ranged attackers using a flipped over table in a tavern as cover, or a horse cart, boulder, barrel, box, fallen tree etc. Etc. Nope, simply lift that obstacle up and drop it on them. This turns a situation where enemies have a strategic advantage completely around and now they are exposed and being crushed in one action. (Not to mention the damage from an object possibly weighing 1k pounds being dropped on them from 30 ft) Alternatively you can use this skill in the same way to create cover for your party in imaginative ways. One is by stealing the enemies cover (i.e. flipped over table in a tavern fight) and placing it in front of your squishy allies or pulling a fallen tree in front of the group as the dragon is swooping in to use his breath. There are endless ways to manipulate the environment around you to your advantage with this ability that is going to keep your DM on their toes and have them rethinking how to approach combat encounters.
One awesome combo you can have is Rune Knight Duergar. At level 3, you can become a Huge creature. At level 18, you can become Gargantuan. You can wrestle Tiamat at level 18. I love the Rune Knight.
@@kevinpetsky49 Has a backpack full of different blankets pattered in grass/ground/stone patterns to disguise themself as hills and mountains and walls.
I have played a Rune Knight for a while and, while it is really strong, everything being once-per-short-rest does mean you have to choose the timing of your abilities carefully.
First of all, I love your guys' videos, and I find your thought processes on these fascinating and thought provoking. Thanks for another great video. Honestly, I looked at the Rune Knight and, I just got so many ideas for the ways I could potentially use it. I love theorycrafting builds and when I saw that hill rune, and saw some major potential. Unlike barbarian rage, the hill rune has no restrictions on casting or concentrating on spells, so, if, say, you take a few levels of warlock, you could have a truly potent multiclass gish. A hexblade able to effectively rage? Yes please.
I play a rune knight in a frostmaiden campaign, and our bard took enlarge/reduce just to make my character extra large. I still have the same speed as normal size so we still need haste to fix that
We did similar with the artificers spell storing item, put enlarge reduce in the rune knight's battleaxe and in the first round he can become huge or at 18 gargantuan 10 times per day.
@@Dile0303 "I don't think it works that way guys" "The book doesn't say anything about them not stacking" "...Fine, the tabaxi rune knight is now the size of a building and is the fastest known creature on the material plane"
I'm currently playing a Fairy Rune Knight and I can tell ya, having magical Flight alongside the ability to become large is a hell of a time. Going between enemies with Fey Passage is insane. Its extra fun when your Artificer goes over and gives you Enlarge while large. Huge Fairy flying about smacking everything and everyone with a Maul.
What I loved about the rune knight is that it also gave you fun options in battle. I played one for about a year now, multiclassed it with rogue for athletics expertise. One major part we had was with an ancient blue dragon. I grew large, our wizard enlarged me, and when the dragon landed, it did not get to fly back up. +12 to athletics with advantage when grappling means not a lot is gonna escape from you. Grapple + prone is an effective combination. "A downed dragon, is a dead dragon."
The reason I chose a Psi Warrior instead of a Battlemaster was so I could pair it with Telekinetic, Crusher, and Shield Master so I could move people all over the place by level 8. I had fun, but it wasn't really great at doing much else.
@@nexusaquarion9281 it's pretty fun. You do get to push people all over the place, and I usually team up with the sorcerer in our party to get as many enemies as we can into an AoE spell
We are in a world where one character can be a 6th level totem of the Bear Barbarian, A 3rd level Rune Knight, and a Goliath. That one character could be a Large creature with the strength of a Gargantuan one. Am I the only one that thinks that has crazy potential?
You could only have the ability to grapple 2 classes above your size if your DM rules that Goliath's racial that allows the to act one size larger with carrying weight and the weight you can push, pull, or carry to apply to grappling. Just an FYI because Raw that is not explicitly the case.
Hey, I'm really surprised you didn't mentioned the 2d6 fire damage that the enemy take while they are restrained by the shackles or the fact that you can hand the rune-carved items to your party members.
I’m pretty sure that your party members wouldn’t gain the benefits from the rune-carved items. At least by the wording of the ability it seems that it is only the rune knight who can gain the benefits
I think I'm with Ketil... If you compare the wording on the rune items to the wording on either Artificer Infusions or Warlock Talisman, Rune Knight abilities all say "you can" while the other abilities refer to "the wearer can" or "while wearing this, a creature can..."
If your DM allows it. Since the features of each rune call out "you" it could be argued placing them on items is little more than flavor text for personal class features in practice. The roleplay of sharing the wealth with your party can trump mechanical wording, but definitely something a player should confirm with their DM ahead of time instead of springing it in a session unannounced.
@@Shalakor well the way I see it, it says "Your rune remains on an object until you finish a long rest, and an object can bear only one of your runes at a time." so giving the item out means you lose the ability of that item personally if that's your only carving of it. BUT, with that said depending on the grace of your DM, you could theoretically make up to 6 objects with storm runes or cloud runes and pass them to the rest of your party and ya'll could make combat a living hell for the DM by having everyone use their reactions to either hand out disadvantage on attacks or outright redirecting attacks.
I just wanted to say how much I love the Psi Knight/Soulknife multiclass! Idk how much effective could it be, but the flavour it's just great for my gith character. Who is supposed to belong to an organization who is trying to reunify the Gith. So it kinda makes sense that his training as a warrior combines both githzerai (Soulknife) and githyanki (Psi Knight) techniques, pretty much like the Daelaam from SC 2
I think the Cloud Rune is more consequential then it is given credit for. Being able to nullify a crit can be huge. Had a game the other week where one of my players was down with a failed death saving throw and the BBEG was about to skewer them for 2 more failed death saves when BOOM, Rune Knight hits the cloud rune and has me hit him instead. Next PC up to bat casts healing word and brings the guy back up and it ends up turning the fight right around.
I’ve been playing a goliath rune knight, and let me say, im having a blast! The things i’ve been able to do with pure strenght are absolutely hillarious! In times of need, getting big is always an answer :D cloud rune has been just spot on in so many situations, and the action economy, having always something to do with your actions, BA and reactions just makes you feel useful at all times, theres always something you can do! AND YOU ARE STILL A FIGHTER DITCHING LOTS OF DMG!
I absolutely love playing my Rune Knight, and I am a halfling who was found and raised by giants as a baby and was treated like one of them, and since I was quite intelligent, I was able to learn the skill of rune crafting to assist my clan. I am having such a fun time. The utility and strength of this class is quite awesome since you can switch up and change out your runes everytime you get to level. Being a huge halfling is so fun.
If you check out our video on “best party” it’s kind of Monty and I building parties of our top subclasses in the game. ua-cam.com/video/uuYFYlmdbIY/v-deo.html
I've been playing with a rune knight in our party for over a year now. So incredibly potent! They've got pole arm master and sentinel, and when they get large with reach, they dominate the entire battlefield
I just love the flavor possibilities of the rune knight. I play an RK with unarmed fighting and barbarian dip. So no armor, no weapons, he gets all his power by tattooing runes on his body, and becomes a giant to punch the shit out of people
We have a kobold rune knight in our party. We didn't actually know what class he was until our second battle and we already loved his character because he was this adorable kobold who barely spoke common. When asked what he wanted from the bartender, he simply said "spicy". Cue the entire table popping off as he finally uses his ability to enlarge and we suddenly have this large kobold towering over all of us
Since you asked, I'm playing a Kobold Rune Knight in Curse of Strahd. I picked up Tavern Brawler, use a shield, and punch-grapple things to death. Being large and dragging monsters around is very good for protecting your friends, and the fire rune adds a nice punch on a crit. Of course, the pack tactics is the primary point, but as a Bronze-colored Kobold I get to say things like "Bronze before Brains" whenever I run first into a room.
The battlemaster should be the core framework of the fighter class. All subclasses should then add to the class, like Arcane archer has its own abilities that works with the superiority dice. Psi Knight, Rune Knight are the same etc.
@@MaMastoast I would like to see some videos from the Dungeon Dudes on how they would redo the fighter subclasses if the Battlemaster was the core base fighter class.
Would be nice to bring the text of the skill back. I liked that in previous reviews. I like the rune knight, have a stout hafling concept who was raised by giants. Him growing to giant size is just fun. Rune Knight is such an action economy king with lots of options.
I actually played a Rune Knight at 10th level and didn't take Hill Rune because I thought the others would be more effective and I already had poison resistance. I thought it was incredible to play and was very powerful but the bonus action/reaction crunch was serious especially with great weapon master and polearm master, but it always seemed to work out and I just pushed out tons of damage and had a lot of fun. I agree with everything you guys said about it. Great video!
I'm currently playing an ascendant dragon monk multiclassed with the rune knight and reflavoured the runes to be draconic runes. Also stunning strike combined with the fire rune is insane. Being stunned and restrained is not good for you but great for the enemy.
Something I feel may have been left out of the Rune Knight ranking is (and maybe we were just playing this wrong) that I believe you can put runes on your party members' equipment in order to buff them. I think it's a small point, but enough for me to put it solidly into the S tier as it frees up some of the action economy clutter they were talking about.
My Rune Knight is 5th level and it's super fun. The cloud rune is absolutely nuts. Redirecting an important attack like a crit can deliver a ton of damage to another enemy, while saving an ally. He's also collected several of the rune magic items (from Storm King's Thunder and its partner modules) as he's an AL character, and they back up the flavor and make for even more versatility. Also he's a Goliath and can lift/carry a crazy amount when Giant's Might is going, so that's fun. He helped a horse pull a carriage once.
I feel like expansions for both will rocket these classes to the stratosphere. I'm waiting for the Troll rune, for sure. I also like the idea of taking a Stone Giant rune that then allows for a Quintessant rune, so there are cool scaling options that allow for more diversity with Rune Knight.
Same! But I am disappointed with the B rank. I figured it would at least be A tier. It makes the rest of the fighter class abilities seem so much more terrifying. Especially an Action Surge following a Telekinetic Thrust? That's some great opportunity for some GWM or XBow/SS damage. Also, a +2 to AC and Dex saves for a minute without concentration is pretty good, even as late as 15th level.
@@silver_tongue_studio they failed to properly assess the subclasses potential in this video along with the original. They didn’t acknowledge how versatile the protective field ability is, since it is able to reduce any source of damage in the game. It’s not tied to attacks, saves, checks, or even damage rolls. It can reduce damage of all weaponry, all spell damage, breath attacks, any trap damage, and even fall damage. It may also be noted that while it isn’t as effective as resistance alone, it does stack with resistance and any other potential damage reductions in the game. The Psionic strike wasn’t elaborated on appropriately either. The Psionic strike is damage that happens after the triggering attack is resolved. This has several mechanical effects that are fairly unique. The die isn’t doubled on a crit. The damage causes a separate concentration save since it’s a separate damage roll. If a creature has a feature that allows a reaction or damage reduction to damage from attacks, like uncanny dodge, the feature doesn’t effect the Psionic strike damage. If you multiclass into hexblade for hexblades curse, the proficiency damage would be added to both your initial attack damage roll and again to the Psionic strike damage roll. Probably more, but that’s all I can think of off the top of my head. They also seemed to gloss over the guarded mind feature, which is amazing since fear and charm heavily cripple any martial. It synergizes well with indomitable, and requires no action whatsoever to use. They also heavily misinterpreted the telekinetic master feature. The feature doesn’t require you to spend your action every turn using the spell effect to gain your bonus action attack, merely that you’re concentrating on the spell.
@@binolombardi I'm surprised at how much of a gift they have for saying so little of substance in so long of a video. Like, they still can make good and insightful points, but they can also waffle about to fill time with impressive effectiveness.
Played an Echo Knight in a level 20 One-Shot. I made 24 attacks in 3 rounds, all with advantage due to Flanking. I hit about 20 times and dealt insane damage. The versatility of being able to swap places with an Echo as a Bonus Action was insane. Sentinel Feat is a must and will break combats for the DM and make deadly encounters, easy.
I’m playing a Rune knight rn in my campaign and I’m having a blast. Especially because you can hand these runes out to your party. I also just love the cloud rune option. I’m defiantly annoying my DM with it because I can just wait till he hits a Nat20 or use a high level single target spell and just make him target another enemy in combat and just watch him 1 hit KO his own Combat encounter. I would give it an S it’s just very fun to play
I'm surprised you guys didn't notice that you can use the Rune Knight's runes can be used on allies' gear. That means that, for example, you can give the damage resistance not to yourself, but to the wizard. This makes it much more powerful and a definite S.
One thing I think they overlooked about Rune Knight; It makes the grappled build so viable, it hurts. I've tried it already, and the ability to get big and gain advantage on strength checks in the process means you can grapple just about anything in the MM. Combine that with action surge, to grab and pin a creature in the same turn, and all the extra feats fighters get meaning they'll be able to get athletics expertise, and by level 18 you get to look forward to grappling ancient dragons out of the sky.
Don't underestimate the Cloud Rune. It not only functions as a save-a-friend-from-certain-death ability and turn it into damage, but it can also insta-kill bosses bypassing all their defenses. Just have a familiar lie helpess on the ground and have the Paladin or some other class unload on it, critting automatically and redirecting to the boss. No need to hit the AC, no legendary saves.
1. Laying on the ground helplessly isn’t an automatic crit, it just gives the attacker advantage so long as they’re using melee within 5 feet of the creature. It’s just the prone condition. 2. The cloud rune doesn’t transfer damage that already is rolled. The cloud rune transfers the attack that was rolled to the new designated target. This means that even with advantage against the initial target, the redirected attack can still miss the new target. It uses the original attack roll against new targets AC.
@@binolombardi yes it is. Only if the creature on the ground is defending himself you get advantage. If any creature is incapable (or unwilling) to defend himself (sleeping, paralyzed, unconscious etc.) then any attack (within 5 ft.) is an automatic critical. 'drop on the ground' was illustrative, anything that 2. This is irrelevant, any attack is an automatic critical hit, after the attack, the transfer decision is made, not before. Thus, the transfer is a critical hit. There is no attack roll needed.
@@merdanethubar-sarum9031 Your mixing up 2-3 game mechanics with assumptions. no attack is an automatic critical hit. Even attacking a paralyzed foe with advantage still has a chance to roll two consecutive 1s. And that’s assuming the target has no AC at all. For example, an attack made with a +10 still has a 13% chance to miss 18AC at advantage. Any HIT would be an automatic critical, at least vs an actually paralyzed or unconscious creature. Even at that point, the attacker would need to be within 5ft of the target or it wouldn’t be a crit. I applaud you on seeming so confident though.
@@binolombardi oh, yeah, I agree with you. The double 1 is indeed a possible scenario. However, I think it does not signficantly impact the point that it, by and large, bypasses a whole lot of possible defenses of the target, from things as trivial as a wall of henchmen to a wall of force (besides AC etc.)
Rune Knight is definitely a very powerful subclass. However, I played with Psi Warrior and RK in one shots and I had more fun with PW. I can't even explain well why. I think I always had something to do that was impactful as Psi warrior 7, artificer 1 while I never reached the whole potential of the RK because my bonus action was too clogged. I had polearm master, which was stupid too as even my reaction was often clogged. I would maybe even consider removing one of the excellent runes for a bit worse one with better action economy. I just loved attacking a prone foe with the Psi warrior with hex, and then protecting the concentration of casters with the damage reduction. When needed, I would just jump the obstacle and bring an ally together with my mind.
I played a gnomish rune knight named Podrick. He was raised by frost giants, and was in a party with a sorcerer. In fights, he would grow large, and the sorcerer would cast enlarge. We ended up fighting a dragon as our final boss, and Podrick, who had the grappler feat, managed to wrestle an ancient gold dragon. It was very fun, highly recommend.
One thing I think would improve the Runic Knight: when you get the 'Great Stature' ability, your 'Giants Might' gains the text: "When you use a bonus action to use Giant's Might you can also simultaneously invoke one rune that is invoked with a bonus action." Presto, you can get large and resistant (or prophetic) in one Bonus Action.
If the Psi Warrior inheritantly had the Telekinetic feat, would it be too OP (no ability score gain)? I think it goes to A, but I dont think that even takes it to an S. When DMing I will give "bad subclasses" extras to balance, and have been considering that for one of my players.
I don't think that's OP at all, especially if there's no ASI involved. In fact, if I was going to play a Psi Warrior I'd probably pick that or the Telepathic feat somewhere down the line for flavor.
In my homebrew notebook I have the following ideas on how to boost Psi Warrior: Add 60' range Minor TK up to Int score in pounds at will. Increase the Bonus Action Psi Point recovery to Proficiency bonus, requiring 1 minute of uninterrupted meditation. Increase the number of Psi Strikes per round to a maximum of 2 at 10th level, and 3 at 18th level. Just some thoughts...
One thing to be noted about Rune Knight is it can apply the most single target incapacitation attempts in a turn as far as I am aware. This is fantastic for doing things like eating up legendary resistances to end a fight instantly, or to shut down multiple high priority targets. The thing about the runes is they generally just win action economy in the turn 1 of combat sense. Stone rune is a reaction that can be used before you even get to your turn in initiative to attempt to incapacitate. At the point in which you get 2 casts of fire rune, those can both be used on the same turn provided you hit with at least 2 multiattacks (and can be applied with ANY weapon attack, not just melee). Bonus action's best use is variable, but one way to use it is to cast storm rune to give enemies disadvanatage to saving throws on any effect has already afficted them, making it more likely to maintain a stun lock. Given they run on your Con modifier, you don't have to commit to any stat that you wouldn't otherwise use to improve the DC on these runes. Also, you have action surge. The best way to make use of action surge imo is to multiclass into Costal Druid of Land for 5 levels. This gives you access to fantastic spells to improve both your survivability and your stun lock ability. This includes web, entangle, earthbind, misty step, hold person, conjure animals, and mirror image, to name a few, as well as goodberry and healing word to help your friends. This build gives you access to the ability to turn one in combat do: stone rune, double fire rune, any spell that would incapacitate, then another stone rune as a reaction, all on the first run of initiative. That is 5 different saving throws you force an enemy to make, all of which take an enemy out of the fight, and it is possible to make most of those saving throws have fantastic DCs only by getting Con. Obviously this is more than would be necessary for most fights, and it does expend all your resources quickly, but it is the most "burst single target CC" you can get on a single character in the game. It destroys bosses that aren't immune to said conditions simply by means of making them incapable of doing things. All of this is recovered on short rests too, the spell slots even as long as they are 1st or 2nd level. Given, to get the full power of this build, you need a high level. But, I still think its worth mentioning just how turn efficient rune knight can be, even if the resources run out quickly. It makes for a really cool alternate tanking style, where you tank by making the enemies incapable of attacking in the first place.
As a DM that rolls lots of nat20s, cloud rune has screwed me over in so many boss encounters. it's only one use but it is so clutch, especially when its a double boss.
I want to say you guys are the only ones I will support. I also point you guys out to my friends and players cause I think you are that awesome. This is coming from someone who is picky about role playing. You are worth my time and money. I hope you never stop what you do.
Me performing AOE damage by dropping trees and boulders on my enemies 2 levels before the Wizard gets Fireball as a Psi Knight, seeing it get a B because it's less versatile than the Battlemaster: "Ok."
I would say ur DM is being extremely kind. If you look at giants when they throw rocks it is single target not AOE. Therefore, your gm is inflating your usefulness at your table.
@@saiyaddanapudi9216 disagree. The least of the giants is a Hill giant which is a huge creature, the greatest giant is a storm giant, also huge. they can also pick up large things same as you with the ability.
I played a rock gnome rune knight! It was for a one shot and I had the benefit of being able to choose my magical items and thus created the backstory of a social little rock gnome who wanted to learn more about rock carving. This led him to making friends with some giants and, eventually, uniting the various giant tribes against a tyrannical and all-powerful storm giant wielding the hammer of thunderbolts. Later, he opened a tavern called "The Giant's Pour" that served novelty sized portions of ale. My favorite in-game moment was rolling a 40 on an athletics check to literally throw someone out of my tavern.
thanks for going through these two - - at least in my view, rune knight can be S-tier or A-tier only if you make choices that optimise in your particular campaign setting, but otherwise rune knight seems like B or A tier. Psi Warrior is B tier at levels 1 through 6, and then I would rank it as A tier after level 7.
Was in a level 5 1 shot. Played as a combat medic Psi Warrior. Literally didn't attack a single round the entire 1 shot (no cleric and our team tragically stumbled from failure to failure) and had a BLAST. Our first encounter was us being ambushed, key wizard ally rolled low initiative and was knocked down and about to be hammered - healed him with healer feat, action surged to lift him up into a tree with psionic movement. He cleaned up on his turn. Next encounter was trying to traverse a ravine, ambushed on the crossing/ascent, action surge double psionic movement to throw 2 players across, and used my shield ally to save the concentration of another ally. Last encounter - DM had a custom beast we were fighting, it's first action was an AOE attack that wrecked the whole group, we went immediately into run away mode (he'd certainly overtuned the encounter), and I was mixing shielding allies, psionic movement, and healer feat resing/healing people to help our group gtfo. Give me a single other fighter who could have pulled any of those feats off at level 5. People thinking Psi Warrior is B are sleeping on it, it lets you do things a fighter can't do without multiclassing or until twice your level, and lets you keep your fighter progression going for those eventual 3 attacks.
Of all the classes, I have played monk and fighter the least. The new options make me think about giving them a chance. As always, I value the discussion. Good luck with the book and the return back to Monty’s.
SO I just realized something. The Great Weapon Master Feat only requires the weapon to have the "Heavy" tag. So could someone using Enlarge/Reduce or the Giant's Might feature be able to use something like a Greatsword in one hand and gain the benefits of both the Great Weapon Master Feat and the Dueling Fighting Style? Afterall, you would be wielding a heavy weapon in one hand with no weapon in the other...
I'll be honest, I only stumbled on the Rune Knight while quickly perusing Tasha's recently. I IMMEDIATELY wanted to roll a Goliath and take the Fire and Stone Runes. A buff to damage, adding a second damage type (Fire), gaining 120' Darkvision and adding 1d6 damage on top just sings to me. Would RP the heck out of Giant culture. Learning the Hill and Storm runes at later levels is easily the go to decisions. Being able to see through the lies of others with Adv on Insight is just gravy on the fries. Of all runes, I'd pass on Cloud, honestly. AND, given the fact that Fighters get more Feats/Ability Improvement than any other class, the chance to expand this character is huge. Now to listen to the theme song from "Vikings" while rolling this character...
As someone who multiclassed into Rune Knight in late game play (after it officially came out). I can tell you that Cloud Rune is not inconsequential. Even at late levels Cloud Rune has changed the tides of major battles. I used Cloud Rune to redirect a critical hit from a Blade of Disaster and it was awesome.
Psi warrior has flight and resistance to psychic damage battlemaster fighter gets maneuvers which if you pick weaker maneuvers you are subpar to a set of competent maneuvers and at later levels you get a lessor regeneration compared to half cover and the spell telekinesis plus psi warrior gets more psi di then battlemaster fighter superiority di how is psi warrior b tier
For Psi Warrior, it's the extra focus on Intelligence that hinders me. it should let you use Intelligence instead of STR & DEX for attack and damaging similar to how the Hex Blade can use CHA. That would make it the class better without making it too powerful.
Psi Warrior Review Psionic strike is a separate damage roll that happens after the initial triggering attack is resolved. It is force damage, so it’s immediately effective regardless of if the triggering attack was made with a magic weapon. Since it’s a separate damage roll, it isn’t effected by critical hits. It causes a 2nd separate concentration check against a caster instead of a potentially larger Concentration save DC. A feature like hexblades curse would add the proficiency damage a 2nd time to the Psionic strike. A feature like uncanny dodge which is focused on halving damage of an attack wouldn’t affect Psionic strike. This makes it a great tool to set your character up with advantage later since it gets augmented to potentially prone a creature. Your first hit you can use the feature without worrying you wasted it by not saving it for a crit, and it sets you up for the rest of your attacks and an action surge. Protective field has a 30ft range, so it can be used for the fighter or an ally. The feature can reduce damage of any source. Breath weapons, spells, attacks, failed traps, or even fall damage. Fall damage is interesting since you might expose yourself to more fall damage more than most other classes due to being able to jump/fly all over the place. It should also be noted that although it’s probably not as reliable as somehow getting a source of reliable resistance, it does stack with all other damage reducing features like resistance, uncanny dodge, heavy armor master, etc. the damage reduction, even if seemingly insignificant, can be incredibly impactful depending on who you decide to keep on their feet. Giving up your reaction as a fighter, which is probably limited to a relatively weak attack of opportunity without significant investment or multiclassing or feats, might ensure an ally stays conscious of use their action economy rather than potentially going down for a round. While healing word is good, not needing to limit your spell casters turn to a bonus action spell and cantrip is potentially better. Even if that only successfully works once or twice a long rest. While you can be out of range, you can’t really “miss” with this ability. This may also be just enough damage reduction at high levels to make some of the ridiculously high concentration saves your casters face possible to make. Telekinetic movement was talked about pretty accurately. I’d add that while there is a limit on object size, there isn’t a size limit placed on willing creatures. If for some reason you needed to move an allied gargantuan creature, you’d be able to do so. Psi powered leap can be combined with your other features to move you and less mobile party members or objects quite far. Psi powered leap would allow the psi warrior to leap 120ft with a 30ft move speed and a dash. You could even zig zag and flavor it as double jumping off air if you’d like. Psi powered leap and telekinetic movement could be combined to allow you and multiple party members to traverse a 30ft gap so long as you target a large platform the party is on or in with your telekinetic movement. You could move the platform 30ft further if you action surge and land on it along the way. Telekinetic thrust has the ability to prone a creature or move a creature 10ft horizontally in any direction on a failed save. Most forced movement features specify pushing away or pulling closer. The chance to move a creature in any of horizontal direction without having to move your own character can be much easier to use effectively than similar features. There’s also no size limitation either like mentioned in the video. Guarded mind is amazing. The resistance to psychic damage is very situational, but the ability to spend a psi die to end the charmed or frightened condition with no action is amazing. These conditions can make most fighters almost useless. This can preserve your indomitable base class feature by allowing you to potentially save your uses for physical based saves. This also mitigates your need for wisdom and charisma saves a bit since those seem to be the source of most charm and fear effects, which further allows for your Intelligence investment if you want. Bulwark of force is quite powerful with its area of effect, duration, and lack of concentration. It’s kind of like a mass armor of faith that also improves dexterity saves for your party. Telekinetic master requires you to concentrate on the spell to get access to your bonus action attack, not your action to be used every turn. With telekinesis relatively cheap cost, 10 minute long duration, utility use to move the environment and creatures, it’s got a decent likelihood of being up before combat starts. I’d like to point out that since telekinesis uses checks, and Psionic strikes telekinetic thrust isn’t actually magical or a spell, these effects both bypass the magical resistance feature. Also none of these features can be counterspelled, not even the telekinesis casting since it’s done entirely without components. In an area of anti magic, everything but the telekinesis spell continues to work. If your already concentrating on the telekinesis when the area of anti magic appears, you still get your bonus action attack. 16-18 intelligence is pretty much perfect for any psi warrior build, and 18 wouldn’t really be super effective until around 15th level with bulwark feature. This is based on a 4 person party. The fighter has a bit more room to be MAD anyways since they have more ASIs.
Well, you guys have convinced me to play a Rune Knight as my next character. I will definitely research and homebrew additional runes to add choice and flavor to the build.
Many have commented this and I second it- it’d be cool if you guys took the D tier or C tier subclasses and tweak them to make them A or S tier.
Maybe they can do that after they finish all rankings.
Please
Many have said that so I've got a good feeling that they'll do that. Though they'd probably try to shoot for "A", which they've mentioned is their gold standard.
An "S" tier archetype in their list is usually an archetype that's borderline game breaking or is just so good that it potentially outshines other class archetypes. Like how they've mentioned Battle Master completely outclasses the Arcane Archer in almost every scenario, to the point where you'd only take Arcane Archer over Battle Master for the flavor, and the Battle Master isn't even that broken compared to other "S" tier archetypes other classes have.
Around "A" tier is the level most archetypes should shoot for as it gives a lot to the class but isn't so great that it doesn't blow every other non "A" tier/ high "B" tier archetype out of the water.
I'm looking forward to seeing how they would tackle the wreck that is the Purple Dragon Knight. 😅
@@zTom_ I still don't understand what the creators had in mind. Coolest Name with nothing brought to the table😓
Gnome Rune Knight. Raised by Giants, thrives to unite small folk with giant kin. His name is… Biggy Smolls.
His legend will only truly begin once he’s gone.
No no no his name is ‘Lil biggie
No
The notorious L.A.R.G.E. (sized)
Or Lil Giant
Holy shit, your KS is nearly a million dollars. I’m so happy for you guys.
As someone who religiously loves the concept of calligraphy, tattoos, and markings, Runes have always spoke to me magically. So Rune Knight very quickly shot itself to be one of my favorite archetypes. It can be sneaky with a rogue flair or more beefy with a touch of Barbarian and neither hold you back.
Man, I wish I could feel like you. When I heard about it, I was super excited. But it feels like a half-child of rune knight and a giant warrior, two subclasses that I feel really have enough potential to be separate, complete, subs, maybe even classes. There are a lot of abilities that I wish we could use with runes that we can't, like rune traps, and rune enchantments of people.
I felt the same way. But then again, you could play an eldrich knight and flavor your spells as runes just as easily. I currently have a half orc warlock who uses runes for all his spells. I flavor his eldrich blast as a magic bow, and his spells all shoot out of the bow depending on which runes he chooses. In fact the bow itself is a magical energy that comes from the bindrunes on his left arm
@@punkrockviking hey, that's a very cool concept, I like it!
Forget Gnome Rune Knight, we need a Fairy Rune Knight. Giga-fairy with the Fey Passage ability to go through 1-inch spaces!
Tink! look what happened! You broke your house.
I just imagine that one scene from part 2 of Jojo’s bizarre adventure
Goblin Path of the Beast/Rune Knight. Stealth and climb onto the ceiling above the big bad, giant's might then land on the big bad? Then use Fury of the Small while Large/Huge?
I actually did this in a one off game. I played a fairy Rune Knight with 3 levels of Wizard for Enlarge/Reduce. I became a HUGE fairy and sank a boat, it was so much fun
Literally have a player doing this build at the moment. 100/10
The rune knight feels like they wield “old magic”. I think a fun RP would be to come from a isolationist tribe of “magic users”. The runes are their magic. You could use a feat to take magic initiate to expand slightly on your magical capabilities.
Add Metamagic Adept to really double down on flavour. Hell, maybe the eldritch invocation one too
@@nulllex0099 I agree!
I played a Rune Knight Warforged kinda based on this. A mad wizard brought him to life with old magic. The secret to his existence was pulled from Fullmetal Alchemist. The wizard used old magic to bind a human soul to a Warforged body.
@@brewdaly1873 nice! That sounds like a fun RP.
Yeah I'm actually running pretty much that. It also ties in with xenophobia against giants/giantkin (ogres, orcs, goliaths, etc). Their magic was banned by this society that prioritises holy magic and tolerates arcane magic
No kidding,
I legit got a Dungeon Dude ad for this video. 👍
Saaaaaaaame
Same
I didn’t for this one, but I’ve gotten a handful so far. Maybe 3? I didn’t even skip it last time... even though I’ve seen it and already pitched in on the Kickstarter
It honestly increased my experience with the video
I'm running a campaign with a Rune Knight and I can tell you that the Cloud Rune is crazy strong sometimes. Big scary monster rolls a crit on your wizard? NOPE he is now critting on his own minion regardless of if they are even next to him!
Totally agree.
You have to pick your moment but it is so powerful and so reliable. It is like a overpowered martial version of counterspell.
There were so many times I turned my DM's glee into anguish with a well timed cloud rune! Oh I'm so very sorry, but instead of knocking our ranger you just killed your own mount! I guess that means your big mean boss is prone after the fall...oops?
And then there was the time I redirected a crit on our wizard to our own paladin because there were no other enemies or creatures in sight and I knew he could take the hit. That was some party drama!
@@brandonskoubo5176 I had a game where my brother was playing a rune knight and my character gets hit by a flaming whip from a balrog, but he said nope and that balrog found he struck and pulled one of his allies instead.
I'm imagining what you could do if you paired it up with Lucky or Halfling Luck or one level of Clockwork soul
Absolutely. I’m surprised this was kinda just glossed over without any praise.
Updated tier list (regarding both The Dungeon Dudes and the users):
S TIER
- Path of the Totem Warrior (Barbarian)
- College of Lore (Bard)
- Peace Domain (Cleric)
- Twilight Domain (Cleric)
- Circle of the Moon (Druid)
- Battle Master (Fighter)
- Echo Knight (Fighter)
- Gloom Stalker Conclave (Ranger)
- Aberrant Mind (Sorcerer)
- Clockwork Soul (Sorcerer)
- Divine Soul (Sorcerer)
- The Hexblade (Warlock)
- School of Divination (Wizard)
A+ TIER
- Armorer (Artificer)
- Life Domain (Cleric)
- *Rune Knight* (Fighter)
- Oath of Vengeance (Paladin)
- Arcane Trickster (Rogue)
- Swashbuckler (Rogue)
- The Fiend (Warlock)
- Bladesinging (Wizard)
- Chronurgy Magic (Wizard)
A TIER
- Artillerist (Artificer)
- Battle Smith (Artificer)
- Path of the Ancestral Guardian (Barbarian)
- Path of the Zealot (Barbarian)
- College of Eloquence (Bard)
- Forge Domain (Cleric)
- Grave Domain (Cleric)
- Light Domain (Cleric)
- Tempest Domain (Cleric)
- Circle of the Shepherd (Druid)
- Eldritch Knight (Fighter)
- Way of the Open Hand (Monk)
- Way of Shadow (Monk)
- Oath of the Ancients (Paladin)
- Oath of Conquest (Paladin)
- Oathbreaker (Paladin)
- Beast Master Conclave (TCE) (Ranger)
- Horizon Walker Conclave (Ranger)
- Scout (Rogue)
- Shadow Magic (Sorcerer)
- School of Abjuration (Wizard)
- School of Enchantment (Wizard)
- Order of Scribes (Wizard)
B+ TIER
- Cavalier (Fighter)
- *Psi Warrior* (Fighter)
- Way of the Kensei (Monk)
- Oath of Devotion (Paladin)
- Oath of Redemption (Paladin)
- Draconic Bloodline (Sorcerer)
- Wild Magic (Sorcerer)
- The Archfey (Warlock)
- The Celestial (Warlock)
- School of Evocation (Wizard)
- School of Illusion (Wizard)
- School of Necromancy (Wizard)
B TIER
- Alchemist (Artificer)
- Path of the Storm Herald (Barbarian)
- College of Glamour (Bard)
- College of Valor (Bard)
- Nature Domain (Cleric)
- Order Domain (Cleric)
- Trickery Domain (Cleric)
- War Domain (Cleric)
- Circle of Dreams (Druid)
- Circle of the Land (Druid)
- Champion (Fighter)
- Samurai (Fighter)
- Way of the Long Death (Monk)
- Oath of Glory (Paladin)
- Hunter Conclave (Ranger)
- Assassin (Rogue)
- Mastermind (Rogue)
- Thief (Rogue)
- The Great Old One (Warlock)
- School of Conjuration (Wizard)
C+ TIER
- College of Swords (Bard)
- College of Whispers (Bard)
- Arcana Domain (Cleric)
- Death Domain (Cleric)
- Knowledge Domain (Cleric)
- Circle of Spores (Druid)
- Arcane Archer (Fighter)
- Way of the Drunken Master (Monk)
- Oath of the Crown (Paladin)
- Monster Slayer Conclave (Ranger)
- Inquisitive (Rogue)
- Storm Sorcery (Sorcerer)
- Graviturgy Magic (Wizard)
- School of Transmutation (Wizard)
- War Magic (Wizard)
C TIER
- Path of the Battlerager (Barbarian)
- Path of the Berserker (Barbarian)
- Way of the Sun Soul (Monk)
D+ TIER
- The Undying (Warlock)
D TIER
- Banneret/Purple Dragon Knight (Fighter)
- Way of the Four Elements (Monk)
- Beast Master Conclave (PHB) (Ranger)
This is awesome! I love to see compiled lists.
That being said, unless they've changed it and I didn't catch it, the Dudes ranked the Oath of Vengeance Paladin an "S" in the original video.
@@gigantisaurusrex6647 think they take the community ranking into account, meaning some subclasses may be bumped up or down between the dudes’s opinions and the community opinion
@@justanormalaccountnothingt1571 Ahh, gotcha. I didn't catch that at first but see that now. Thanks for pointing that out.
You're an angel among men, goodperson!
Divination Wizard is S tier and Chronurgist is only A+ tier? That's amusing . . .
Once you guys go through all subclasses, a top ten or just your favorite subclasses would be fun.
Although I hope that it won't just be the top ten. I hope it would be top ten favorite classes regardless of power level.
When I first saw the subclass, my mind immediately went to a kobold rune knight. Not only is it a three foot kobold quadrupling in height, but kobolds typically worship dragons, and the rune knight is giant themed. Since giants and dragons are typically enemies, this would make for some great storylines
Another fun thing about the Rune Knight is that you eventually get to grapple a f***ing Tarrasque with +13 and advantage (as well as giving it disadvantage on its athletics check)
Freaking suplex a Terrasque already deserved S tier
If you're talking level 20, that could be a +19 without any magic items.
@@johnhodges2760 why extra +2?
@@mouthlesshater Frost rune
@@maidofheart2000 ah.
I feel the fact that the rune knights save dc being based on constitution bumps it up a level.
A constitution based caster.
Fun thing to do at high level, when a rune knight uses giant stature to become HUGE, have the party spellcaster throw enlarge on top of that, now your fighter is gargantuan
Duergar can add another enlarge on that
DM tend to rain on that cheese. Still funny.
or have the rune knight be a fairy, then they can do that to themselves for free.
@@grantpflum6844 only if they hate fun. I allow my players to do anything they can logically justify, I just use employ even more cheese to counter it.
@@jagd7102y dm did a norse dnd and I was a frost giant path of the giant barbarian. I was 8ft tall and he would have be double my height to 16ft to large then 32 for huge. The final fight was my Barbarian Thorgan(32ft) fighting Odin who made a bifrost mech thing to fight me at equal height. Unfortunately for him I was given a ability called Godly rage which put me at the same level or above the norse gods. If I met 3 conditions. I had to be fighting a god,a family member had to be killed or threatened to be killed and I needed to be below half health. Essentially since I was the final Giant left all the giant magic left in norse mythology resided in me and when godly rage would activate I would then have access to that magic which would massive amp my physical abilities. Plus I also struck a deal with a primordial flame before the final battle which bumped my str to a 30
I would like to imagine a dwarf getting teased for his height at his job in the city, he goes on an adventure and comes back as a big fuck off rune knight
Actually have a concept made of a runt dwarf leaving to adventure with a chip on his shoulder to prove himself but even after his growth he's still made that most other races are taller especially his Goliath friend lol 😂
I have a level 6, 5’ tall Mountain Dwarf RK and am hoping to roll high on the stature feature and get close to 6’ tall so he can go back to his family and .. dwarf.. them ;)
I played a rune knight in a level 12 one shot. We didn't know what we were going up against, but it ended up being against an ancient white dragon. Turns out, if you enlarge yourself, your wizard can then cast enlarge on you to raise your size again, making you only one size smaller than an ancient dragon. So with my expertise in athletics and advantage on strength checks, I had that thing grappled for 3 turns before it finally broke out. Granted, I was feared and useless for the rest of the fight, but it still turned our "you guys are screwed" one shot into a victory.
I’m starting a Drakkenheim campaign as soon as it’s delivered. My player characters are stoked!!
I hope their players are too
@@wishfull3nigma no, they're just really good roleplayers...
Fun drinking game: every time Kelly says "potent", take a shot. I watched the last two uploads back-to-back then blacked out for 5 hours. 🥃🥃 😜
11 minutes in and I’m wasted 🤣🤣
So, failed the CON Save?
But, umm
take a shot of water, you’ll be very hydrated
- Tulok
Another option would be to drink when he says "versatile"; you might actually die lol
Cloud Rune's reaction is god damn incredible. Or at least it feels amazing using it on crits.
Hey Grave Domain I heard you like cancelling crits - what if I just decide that crit hits someone else 30ft. away instead?
And their 7th level ability "Runic Shield" also helps prevent crits. Basically silvery barbs on a stick a few times a day for anything that is an attack role. This is easily the best tank that doesn't have any sort of taunt feature, and it might be the best tank when compared to those too. Battlefield control unmatched by any other martial imo.
I started playing DND this year and played 4 sessions only but I feel like I have been playing for years because I watched almost every fucking video of this channel, you are awesome guys
Welcome, it's a great hobby.
I have a similar story. I've only done maybe 8 or so sessions and have one level 4 character, but I've spent so many hours reading wiki pages, coming up with characters, watching videos, discussing on reddit, all that. I feel like it's something I want to do for the rest of my life.
@@seekingfurtherlight34 Yes, and the community is awesome
@@lazarus_089 Just planning and thinking about characters is great, I love it
For the psi warrior you get to use telekinetic movement and psi-powered leap once per short rest or expend a die do use it again. And the telekinetic master says you only have to concentrate on telekinesis to get the bonus action attack. Just clearing up some wording I agree with your guys placement.
You can still theoretically cast Enlarge on a Huge-ified Rune Knight, just throwing that out there
Tasha's gave me two new ways to beat things up with a fighter. I'm happy with them.
I'm so glad they added in Rune Knight to basically make Grappler builds not only viable but fun as well. Plus it plays into the 'superheroics' type deal at high level where you're the huge size beefy boi that's smashing aside normal opponents and straight up wrasslin' ancient dragons.
@@luketfer I made a Rune Knight Goblin with a greatsword (it was from the paladin but she died) it was hilarius use Fury of the Small, Hide as a bonus action and the moment they found you BAM! GIANT GOBLIN!!!
I too like to beat things up. I feel like I’d be happy with these as well.
Great video! I'm a big fan of the Rune Knight and I think there's some more fun aspects to the subclass that you guys didn't mention.
I think there's a strong argument that it is one of if not the best grapplers in the game. Giant's Might buffs you to large and huge sizes which means that you can grapple enemies that you wouldn't normally be able to without enlarge/polymorph. The frost rune gives a flat +2 bonus which is rare and stacks with both proficiency and advantage/disadvantage and last 10 minutes so it can be activated before combat, like as you enter a dungeon and can power through possibly multiple combat encounters. Eventually the storm rune can also give advantage/disadvantage to make sure enemies stay grappled and at later levels the +5 ft range makes it really hard to be out of range. Finally the fighter can make more attacks in a turn than any other class ensuring that you not only get the grapple off but can also capitalize by shoving them prone and attacking them with advantage.
I also think you guys overlooked the cloud rune ability which is wholly unique in the game. It transfers any attack after you know it hits to any other creature within 30 ft of you. Very importantly it doesn't require any kind of save so it's incredibly reliable and can transfer the attack regardless of the original range. As a defensive tool it's incredible shutting down powerful spells like contagion or inflict wounds, or attacks with additional effects like tarrasque's bite or any poisonous attacks, it stops critical hits, attacks on downed allies and attacks that would break concentration. If there are other enemies around it can redirect the attack to them or redirect it to you so you can tank a hit. It also has another sneaky mode as a way to give you or an ally within 30ft an attack of 30ft of you. If you hit enemy with an attack you can transfer that attack to another creature with 30ft of you. This attack ignores the normal ranged penalty if you have an enemy with melee range of you and can even transfer over advantage you may have had from the first attack. This allows you to attack at range without having to risk opurtunity attacks, ignores all cover and doesn't even require line of sight to the target. The offensive mode does seem much more niche than the defensive options but the fact that the ability has soooo much flexibility and is is incredibly reliable makes it fantastically good. Only limited by the 1 or 2 uses/short rest and the use of a reaction.
The Rune Knight is one of the few non-magical classes/subclasses that I'm actually excited to play. I think they really nailed the design
One AMAZING ability you overlooked with the psi warriors telekinetic movement that nobody else has mentioned is being able to expose enemies behind cover. For example, ranged attackers using a flipped over table in a tavern as cover, or a horse cart, boulder, barrel, box, fallen tree etc. Etc. Nope, simply lift that obstacle up and drop it on them. This turns a situation where enemies have a strategic advantage completely around and now they are exposed and being crushed in one action. (Not to mention the damage from an object possibly weighing 1k pounds being dropped on them from 30 ft)
Alternatively you can use this skill in the same way to create cover for your party in imaginative ways. One is by stealing the enemies cover (i.e. flipped over table in a tavern fight) and placing it in front of your squishy allies or pulling a fallen tree in front of the group as the dragon is swooping in to use his breath. There are endless ways to manipulate the environment around you to your advantage with this ability that is going to keep your DM on their toes and have them rethinking how to approach combat encounters.
Holy crap, you guys are smashing that Dungeons of Drakkenheim kickstarter. I'm so happy for you all. :D
"You ever see that scene from Scanners?" - Psi Warrior, probably.
Ok, that was from Scanners, basically that.
lol I love this reference
One awesome combo you can have is Rune Knight Duergar. At level 3, you can become a Huge creature.
At level 18, you can become Gargantuan.
You can wrestle Tiamat at level 18.
I love the Rune Knight.
Halfling or Gnome rune knight? No. Duergar. Cast enlarge on yourself after growing. You're now an extra size larger
Goblin and still use fury of the small and then hide as a bonus action
@@kevinpetsky49 Has a backpack full of different blankets pattered in grass/ground/stone patterns to disguise themself as hills and mountains and walls.
I have played a Rune Knight for a while and, while it is really strong, everything being once-per-short-rest does mean you have to choose the timing of your abilities carefully.
LITERALLY just put together a Rune Knight on D&D Beyond last night. Content is A+++ as always, you two.
First of all, I love your guys' videos, and I find your thought processes on these fascinating and thought provoking. Thanks for another great video.
Honestly, I looked at the Rune Knight and, I just got so many ideas for the ways I could potentially use it. I love theorycrafting builds and when I saw that hill rune, and saw some major potential. Unlike barbarian rage, the hill rune has no restrictions on casting or concentrating on spells, so, if, say, you take a few levels of warlock, you could have a truly potent multiclass gish. A hexblade able to effectively rage? Yes please.
I play a rune knight in a frostmaiden campaign, and our bard took enlarge/reduce just to make my character extra large. I still have the same speed as normal size so we still need haste to fix that
We did similar with the artificers spell storing item, put enlarge reduce in the rune knight's battleaxe and in the first round he can become huge or at 18 gargantuan 10 times per day.
I love when the entire party goes nova just to turn a player into a kaiju
@@Dile0303 "I don't think it works that way guys" "The book doesn't say anything about them not stacking" "...Fine, the tabaxi rune knight is now the size of a building and is the fastest known creature on the material plane"
A venti fighter
Ey yo same
except it's our artificer who took Enlarge/Reduce, instead of the bard
I'm currently playing a Fairy Rune Knight and I can tell ya, having magical Flight alongside the ability to become large is a hell of a time. Going between enemies with Fey Passage is insane. Its extra fun when your Artificer goes over and gives you Enlarge while large. Huge Fairy flying about smacking everything and everyone with a Maul.
What I loved about the rune knight is that it also gave you fun options in battle.
I played one for about a year now, multiclassed it with rogue for athletics expertise.
One major part we had was with an ancient blue dragon. I grew large, our wizard enlarged me, and when the dragon landed, it did not get to fly back up.
+12 to athletics with advantage when grappling means not a lot is gonna escape from you.
Grapple + prone is an effective combination.
"A downed dragon, is a dead dragon."
The reason I chose a Psi Warrior instead of a Battlemaster was so I could pair it with Telekinetic, Crusher, and Shield Master so I could move people all over the place by level 8. I had fun, but it wasn't really great at doing much else.
I just wanted to be a Jedi lol
I built a kalashtar psi warrior with the Telekinetic feat for the same reason
@@maid_of_heart3261 how did that work out
@@nexusaquarion9281 it's pretty fun. You do get to push people all over the place, and I usually team up with the sorcerer in our party to get as many enemies as we can into an AoE spell
We are in a world where one character can be a 6th level totem of the Bear Barbarian, A 3rd level Rune Knight, and a Goliath. That one character could be a Large creature with the strength of a Gargantuan one. Am I the only one that thinks that has crazy potential?
Time to wrestle dragons.
You could only have the ability to grapple 2 classes above your size if your DM rules that Goliath's racial that allows the to act one size larger with carrying weight and the weight you can push, pull, or carry to apply to grappling. Just an FYI because Raw that is not explicitly the case.
@@lastdefenderofxhotl Fair enough. Personally I think I'd rule that way, because watching your player supplex an Ancient Dragon would be AWESOME.
@@starsgears9200 A suplex?? Nah, much better to hit em with an RKO outta nowhere
Does the doubling of weight thing stack?
Hey, I'm really surprised you didn't mentioned the 2d6 fire damage that the enemy take while they are restrained by the shackles or the fact that you can hand the rune-carved items to your party members.
I’m pretty sure that your party members wouldn’t gain the benefits from the rune-carved items. At least by the wording of the ability it seems that it is only the rune knight who can gain the benefits
I think I'm with Ketil... If you compare the wording on the rune items to the wording on either Artificer Infusions or Warlock Talisman, Rune Knight abilities all say "you can" while the other abilities refer to "the wearer can" or "while wearing this, a creature can..."
just reread the abilities and yeah, I stand corrected on that one.
If your DM allows it. Since the features of each rune call out "you" it could be argued placing them on items is little more than flavor text for personal class features in practice. The roleplay of sharing the wealth with your party can trump mechanical wording, but definitely something a player should confirm with their DM ahead of time instead of springing it in a session unannounced.
@@Shalakor well the way I see it, it says "Your rune remains on an object until you finish a long rest, and an object can bear only one of your runes at a time." so giving the item out means you lose the ability of that item personally if that's your only carving of it. BUT, with that said depending on the grace of your DM, you could theoretically make up to 6 objects with storm runes or cloud runes and pass them to the rest of your party and ya'll could make combat a living hell for the DM by having everyone use their reactions to either hand out disadvantage on attacks or outright redirecting attacks.
Rune Knight unarmed fighter. Crusher feat. You can bully any creature of any size with them hands.
Hands rated E for Everyone
I just wanted to say how much I love the Psi Knight/Soulknife multiclass! Idk how much effective could it be, but the flavour it's just great for my gith character. Who is supposed to belong to an organization who is trying to reunify the Gith. So it kinda makes sense that his training as a warrior combines both githzerai (Soulknife) and githyanki (Psi Knight) techniques, pretty much like the Daelaam from SC 2
I think the Cloud Rune is more consequential then it is given credit for. Being able to nullify a crit can be huge. Had a game the other week where one of my players was down with a failed death saving throw and the BBEG was about to skewer them for 2 more failed death saves when BOOM, Rune Knight hits the cloud rune and has me hit him instead. Next PC up to bat casts healing word and brings the guy back up and it ends up turning the fight right around.
I’ve been playing a goliath rune knight, and let me say, im having a blast! The things i’ve been able to do with pure strenght are absolutely hillarious! In times of need, getting big is always an answer :D cloud rune has been just spot on in so many situations, and the action economy, having always something to do with your actions, BA and reactions just makes you feel useful at all times, theres always something you can do! AND YOU ARE STILL A FIGHTER DITCHING LOTS OF DMG!
I absolutely love playing my Rune Knight, and I am a halfling who was found and raised by giants as a baby and was treated like one of them, and since I was quite intelligent, I was able to learn the skill of rune crafting to assist my clan. I am having such a fun time. The utility and strength of this class is quite awesome since you can switch up and change out your runes everytime you get to level. Being a huge halfling is so fun.
Pls make a tierlist for your favorit subclasses in all game, or the best
If you check out our video on “best party” it’s kind of Monty and I building parties of our top subclasses in the game.
ua-cam.com/video/uuYFYlmdbIY/v-deo.html
I was gonna say what they said, but I got here later
The best party: The Executioner and all his captured souls.
If you cant wait, Treantmonk is doing this currently. In alphabetical order, he just got to the fighter class.
I've been playing with a rune knight in our party for over a year now. So incredibly potent! They've got pole arm master and sentinel, and when they get large with reach, they dominate the entire battlefield
I just love the flavor possibilities of the rune knight. I play an RK with unarmed fighting and barbarian dip. So no armor, no weapons, he gets all his power by tattooing runes on his body, and becomes a giant to punch the shit out of people
A.K.A. the "Hoarah Loux" build -I love it.
We have a kobold rune knight in our party.
We didn't actually know what class he was until our second battle and we already loved his character because he was this adorable kobold who barely spoke common. When asked what he wanted from the bartender, he simply said "spicy".
Cue the entire table popping off as he finally uses his ability to enlarge and we suddenly have this large kobold towering over all of us
Since you asked, I'm playing a Kobold Rune Knight in Curse of Strahd. I picked up Tavern Brawler, use a shield, and punch-grapple things to death. Being large and dragging monsters around is very good for protecting your friends, and the fire rune adds a nice punch on a crit. Of course, the pack tactics is the primary point, but as a Bronze-colored Kobold I get to say things like "Bronze before Brains" whenever I run first into a room.
The battlemaster should be the core framework of the fighter class. All subclasses should then add to the class, like Arcane archer has its own abilities that works with the superiority dice. Psi Knight, Rune Knight are the same etc.
That would be really awesome!
absolutely... the fighter base class lacks options and the battlemaster features is the best fix for that
@@MaMastoast I would like to see some videos from the Dungeon Dudes on how they would redo the fighter subclasses if the Battlemaster was the core base fighter class.
That was actually the original design for the 5e fighter! Wizards of Coast changed their mind at publication for some reason.
Would be nice to bring the text of the skill back. I liked that in previous reviews. I like the rune knight, have a stout hafling concept who was raised by giants. Him growing to giant size is just fun. Rune Knight is such an action economy king with lots of options.
I actually played a Rune Knight at 10th level and didn't take Hill Rune because I thought the others would be more effective and I already had poison resistance. I thought it was incredible to play and was very powerful but the bonus action/reaction crunch was serious especially with great weapon master and polearm master, but it always seemed to work out and I just pushed out tons of damage and had a lot of fun. I agree with everything you guys said about it. Great video!
I waited soooo long for this video. The rune knight is one of if not my favorite fighter subclass, I'd give it an S tier and the flavor is awesome
I'm currently playing an ascendant dragon monk multiclassed with the rune knight and reflavoured the runes to be draconic runes. Also stunning strike combined with the fire rune is insane. Being stunned and restrained is not good for you but great for the enemy.
Something I feel may have been left out of the Rune Knight ranking is (and maybe we were just playing this wrong) that I believe you can put runes on your party members' equipment in order to buff them. I think it's a small point, but enough for me to put it solidly into the S tier as it frees up some of the action economy clutter they were talking about.
My Rune Knight is 5th level and it's super fun. The cloud rune is absolutely nuts. Redirecting an important attack like a crit can deliver a ton of damage to another enemy, while saving an ally.
He's also collected several of the rune magic items (from Storm King's Thunder and its partner modules) as he's an AL character, and they back up the flavor and make for even more versatility. Also he's a Goliath and can lift/carry a crazy amount when Giant's Might is going, so that's fun. He helped a horse pull a carriage once.
I feel like expansions for both will rocket these classes to the stratosphere. I'm waiting for the Troll rune, for sure. I also like the idea of taking a Stone Giant rune that then allows for a Quintessant rune, so there are cool scaling options that allow for more diversity with Rune Knight.
I've been super hyped for the judgement of psi warrior.
Same! But I am disappointed with the B rank. I figured it would at least be A tier. It makes the rest of the fighter class abilities seem so much more terrifying. Especially an Action Surge following a Telekinetic Thrust? That's some great opportunity for some GWM or XBow/SS damage.
Also, a +2 to AC and Dex saves for a minute without concentration is pretty good, even as late as 15th level.
@@silver_tongue_studio they failed to properly assess the subclasses potential in this video along with the original.
They didn’t acknowledge how versatile the protective field ability is, since it is able to reduce any source of damage in the game. It’s not tied to attacks, saves, checks, or even damage rolls. It can reduce damage of all weaponry, all spell damage, breath attacks, any trap damage, and even fall damage. It may also be noted that while it isn’t as effective as resistance alone, it does stack with resistance and any other potential damage reductions in the game.
The Psionic strike wasn’t elaborated on appropriately either. The Psionic strike is damage that happens after the triggering attack is resolved. This has several mechanical effects that are fairly unique. The die isn’t doubled on a crit. The damage causes a separate concentration save since it’s a separate damage roll. If a creature has a feature that allows a reaction or damage reduction to damage from attacks, like uncanny dodge, the feature doesn’t effect the Psionic strike damage. If you multiclass into hexblade for hexblades curse, the proficiency damage would be added to both your initial attack damage roll and again to the Psionic strike damage roll. Probably more, but that’s all I can think of off the top of my head.
They also seemed to gloss over the guarded mind feature, which is amazing since fear and charm heavily cripple any martial. It synergizes well with indomitable, and requires no action whatsoever to use.
They also heavily misinterpreted the telekinetic master feature. The feature doesn’t require you to spend your action every turn using the spell effect to gain your bonus action attack, merely that you’re concentrating on the spell.
@@binolombardi I'm surprised at how much of a gift they have for saying so little of substance in so long of a video. Like, they still can make good and insightful points, but they can also waffle about to fill time with impressive effectiveness.
Played an Echo Knight in a level 20 One-Shot. I made 24 attacks in 3 rounds, all with advantage due to Flanking. I hit about 20 times and dealt insane damage. The versatility of being able to swap places with an Echo as a Bonus Action was insane. Sentinel Feat is a must and will break combats for the DM and make deadly encounters, easy.
Perfect timing! Today I was literally wondering when you'd drop the video on rune knight!
Seeing how much they took for explaining the Rune Knight, I was not surprised seeing the verdict :P Good stuff, Dudes!
I know mystic is dead in the water but I’d love to see you guys do a subclass ranking for them as well! I play one at my table!
Rip that table
I’m playing a Rune knight rn in my campaign and I’m having a blast. Especially because you can hand these runes out to your party. I also just love the cloud rune option. I’m defiantly annoying my DM with it because I can just wait till he hits a Nat20 or use a high level single target spell and just make him target another enemy in combat and just watch him 1 hit KO his own Combat encounter. I would give it an S it’s just very fun to play
I'm surprised you guys didn't notice that you can use the Rune Knight's runes can be used on allies' gear. That means that, for example, you can give the damage resistance not to yourself, but to the wizard. This makes it much more powerful and a definite S.
One thing I think they overlooked about Rune Knight; It makes the grappled build so viable, it hurts. I've tried it already, and the ability to get big and gain advantage on strength checks in the process means you can grapple just about anything in the MM. Combine that with action surge, to grab and pin a creature in the same turn, and all the extra feats fighters get meaning they'll be able to get athletics expertise, and by level 18 you get to look forward to grappling ancient dragons out of the sky.
Don't underestimate the Cloud Rune. It not only functions as a save-a-friend-from-certain-death ability and turn it into damage, but it can also insta-kill bosses bypassing all their defenses. Just have a familiar lie helpess on the ground and have the Paladin or some other class unload on it, critting automatically and redirecting to the boss. No need to hit the AC, no legendary saves.
1. Laying on the ground helplessly isn’t an automatic crit, it just gives the attacker advantage so long as they’re using melee within 5 feet of the creature. It’s just the prone condition.
2. The cloud rune doesn’t transfer damage that already is rolled. The cloud rune transfers the attack that was rolled to the new designated target. This means that even with advantage against the initial target, the redirected attack can still miss the new target. It uses the original attack roll against new targets AC.
@@binolombardi for 1.Use Hold Person instead? Paralyzed is an instant crit.
@@binolombardi yes it is. Only if the creature on the ground is defending himself you get advantage. If any creature is incapable (or unwilling) to defend himself (sleeping, paralyzed, unconscious etc.) then any attack (within 5 ft.) is an automatic critical. 'drop on the ground' was illustrative, anything that
2. This is irrelevant, any attack is an automatic critical hit, after the attack, the transfer decision is made, not before. Thus, the transfer is a critical hit. There is no attack roll needed.
@@merdanethubar-sarum9031
Your mixing up 2-3 game mechanics with assumptions.
no attack is an automatic critical hit. Even attacking a paralyzed foe with advantage still has a chance to roll two consecutive 1s. And that’s assuming the target has no AC at all. For example, an attack made with a +10 still has a 13% chance to miss 18AC at advantage.
Any HIT would be an automatic critical, at least vs an actually paralyzed or unconscious creature. Even at that point, the attacker would need to be within 5ft of the target or it wouldn’t be a crit.
I applaud you on seeming so confident though.
@@binolombardi oh, yeah, I agree with you. The double 1 is indeed a possible scenario. However, I think it does not signficantly impact the point that it, by and large, bypasses a whole lot of possible defenses of the target, from things as trivial as a wall of henchmen to a wall of force (besides AC etc.)
Rune Knight is definitely a very powerful subclass. However, I played with Psi Warrior and RK in one shots and I had more fun with PW. I can't even explain well why. I think I always had something to do that was impactful as Psi warrior 7, artificer 1 while I never reached the whole potential of the RK because my bonus action was too clogged. I had polearm master, which was stupid too as even my reaction was often clogged.
I would maybe even consider removing one of the excellent runes for a bit worse one with better action economy.
I just loved attacking a prone foe with the Psi warrior with hex, and then protecting the concentration of casters with the damage reduction. When needed, I would just jump the obstacle and bring an ally together with my mind.
I played a gnomish rune knight named Podrick. He was raised by frost giants, and was in a party with a sorcerer. In fights, he would grow large, and the sorcerer would cast enlarge. We ended up fighting a dragon as our final boss, and Podrick, who had the grappler feat, managed to wrestle an ancient gold dragon. It was very fun, highly recommend.
One thing I think would improve the Runic Knight: when you get the 'Great Stature' ability, your 'Giants Might' gains the text: "When you use a bonus action to use Giant's Might you can also simultaneously invoke one rune that is invoked with a bonus action." Presto, you can get large and resistant (or prophetic) in one Bonus Action.
If the Psi Warrior inheritantly had the Telekinetic feat, would it be too OP (no ability score gain)? I think it goes to A, but I dont think that even takes it to an S. When DMing I will give "bad subclasses" extras to balance, and have been considering that for one of my players.
I like this idea. Maybe give them the 60ft version too? No ASI is smart👍
I don't think that's OP at all, especially if there's no ASI involved. In fact, if I was going to play a Psi Warrior I'd probably pick that or the Telepathic feat somewhere down the line for flavor.
In my homebrew notebook I have the following ideas on how to boost Psi Warrior: Add 60' range Minor TK up to Int score in pounds at will. Increase the Bonus Action Psi Point recovery to Proficiency bonus, requiring 1 minute of uninterrupted meditation. Increase the number of Psi Strikes per round to a maximum of 2 at 10th level, and 3 at 18th level. Just some thoughts...
Nah I don't think so. It would just make them better outside of combat
Just imagine that high level Kobold Rune knight becoming godzilla, or maybe a Locatha just kind of “magikarp evolved into gyarados”
One thing to be noted about Rune Knight is it can apply the most single target incapacitation attempts in a turn as far as I am aware. This is fantastic for doing things like eating up legendary resistances to end a fight instantly, or to shut down multiple high priority targets. The thing about the runes is they generally just win action economy in the turn 1 of combat sense. Stone rune is a reaction that can be used before you even get to your turn in initiative to attempt to incapacitate. At the point in which you get 2 casts of fire rune, those can both be used on the same turn provided you hit with at least 2 multiattacks (and can be applied with ANY weapon attack, not just melee). Bonus action's best use is variable, but one way to use it is to cast storm rune to give enemies disadvanatage to saving throws on any effect has already afficted them, making it more likely to maintain a stun lock. Given they run on your Con modifier, you don't have to commit to any stat that you wouldn't otherwise use to improve the DC on these runes.
Also, you have action surge. The best way to make use of action surge imo is to multiclass into Costal Druid of Land for 5 levels. This gives you access to fantastic spells to improve both your survivability and your stun lock ability. This includes web, entangle, earthbind, misty step, hold person, conjure animals, and mirror image, to name a few, as well as goodberry and healing word to help your friends. This build gives you access to the ability to turn one in combat do: stone rune, double fire rune, any spell that would incapacitate, then another stone rune as a reaction, all on the first run of initiative. That is 5 different saving throws you force an enemy to make, all of which take an enemy out of the fight, and it is possible to make most of those saving throws have fantastic DCs only by getting Con. Obviously this is more than would be necessary for most fights, and it does expend all your resources quickly, but it is the most "burst single target CC" you can get on a single character in the game. It destroys bosses that aren't immune to said conditions simply by means of making them incapable of doing things. All of this is recovered on short rests too, the spell slots even as long as they are 1st or 2nd level.
Given, to get the full power of this build, you need a high level. But, I still think its worth mentioning just how turn efficient rune knight can be, even if the resources run out quickly. It makes for a really cool alternate tanking style, where you tank by making the enemies incapable of attacking in the first place.
I finally backed Dungeons of Drakkenheim! I’m super excited :D
As a DM that rolls lots of nat20s, cloud rune has screwed me over in so many boss encounters. it's only one use but it is so clutch, especially when its a double boss.
A Rune Knight with a bow honestly feels really cool as a magic military general.
I want to say you guys are the only ones I will support. I also point you guys out to my friends and players cause I think you are that awesome. This is coming from someone who is picky about role playing. You are worth my time and money. I hope you never stop what you do.
I took a 3 level dip into rune knight with my warlock, and they work so well together.
Me performing AOE damage by dropping trees and boulders on my enemies 2 levels before the Wizard gets Fireball as a Psi Knight, seeing it get a B because it's less versatile than the Battlemaster: "Ok."
Dude saaaaame. My psi warrior will be S in my heart always.
I would say ur DM is being extremely kind. If you look at giants when they throw rocks it is single target not AOE. Therefore, your gm is inflating your usefulness at your table.
At level 11 i solo killed a young red dragon with a psi warrior
@@deathiscoming7 Giants also have hands that are only so big. The telekinesis ability can pick up anything large or lower.
@@saiyaddanapudi9216 disagree. The least of the giants is a Hill giant which is a huge creature, the greatest giant is a storm giant, also huge. they can also pick up large things same as you with the ability.
2nd or 1st. Congratulations again on your kick starter!
Awesome video to add to the series. Looking forward to the warlock.
I played a rock gnome rune knight! It was for a one shot and I had the benefit of being able to choose my magical items and thus created the backstory of a social little rock gnome who wanted to learn more about rock carving. This led him to making friends with some giants and, eventually, uniting the various giant tribes against a tyrannical and all-powerful storm giant wielding the hammer of thunderbolts.
Later, he opened a tavern called "The Giant's Pour" that served novelty sized portions of ale. My favorite in-game moment was rolling a 40 on an athletics check to literally throw someone out of my tavern.
I still hope that a fighter subclass focused on dual wielding is added, since that extra attack loses value on higher levels.
thanks for going through these two - - at least in my view, rune knight can be S-tier or A-tier only if you make choices that optimise in your particular campaign setting, but otherwise rune knight seems like B or A tier. Psi Warrior is B tier at levels 1 through 6, and then I would rank it as A tier after level 7.
Was in a level 5 1 shot. Played as a combat medic Psi Warrior. Literally didn't attack a single round the entire 1 shot (no cleric and our team tragically stumbled from failure to failure) and had a BLAST. Our first encounter was us being ambushed, key wizard ally rolled low initiative and was knocked down and about to be hammered - healed him with healer feat, action surged to lift him up into a tree with psionic movement. He cleaned up on his turn.
Next encounter was trying to traverse a ravine, ambushed on the crossing/ascent, action surge double psionic movement to throw 2 players across, and used my shield ally to save the concentration of another ally.
Last encounter - DM had a custom beast we were fighting, it's first action was an AOE attack that wrecked the whole group, we went immediately into run away mode (he'd certainly overtuned the encounter), and I was mixing shielding allies, psionic movement, and healer feat resing/healing people to help our group gtfo. Give me a single other fighter who could have pulled any of those feats off at level 5.
People thinking Psi Warrior is B are sleeping on it, it lets you do things a fighter can't do without multiclassing or until twice your level, and lets you keep your fighter progression going for those eventual 3 attacks.
Im actually playing a Goblin Rune Knight right now with the Unarmed Fighting Style and the Tavern Brawler feat for all the grapples. Its so fun
Man, I know haste makes everything more fun but a hasted action surging Rune knight could get a lot done
Rune Knight Grung that inflates by inflating it's throat like a frog "RIBBIT!"
So much palpable suspense during the back and forth deliberations on the Run Knight ranking. 😂
Of all the classes, I have played monk and fighter the least. The new options make me think about giving them a chance. As always, I value the discussion.
Good luck with the book and the return back to Monty’s.
SO I just realized something. The Great Weapon Master Feat only requires the weapon to have the "Heavy" tag. So could someone using Enlarge/Reduce or the Giant's Might feature be able to use something like a Greatsword in one hand and gain the benefits of both the Great Weapon Master Feat and the Dueling Fighting Style? Afterall, you would be wielding a heavy weapon in one hand with no weapon in the other...
“That’s a greatsword in both hands!! That’s two breads getting buttered at once!” - Wambu, Top 10 Skul Skulls, on the Predator skull.
I'll be honest, I only stumbled on the Rune Knight while quickly perusing Tasha's recently. I IMMEDIATELY wanted to roll a Goliath and take the Fire and Stone Runes. A buff to damage, adding a second damage type (Fire), gaining 120' Darkvision and adding 1d6 damage on top just sings to me. Would RP the heck out of Giant culture. Learning the Hill and Storm runes at later levels is easily the go to decisions. Being able to see through the lies of others with Adv on Insight is just gravy on the fries. Of all runes, I'd pass on Cloud, honestly. AND, given the fact that Fighters get more Feats/Ability Improvement than any other class, the chance to expand this character is huge.
Now to listen to the theme song from "Vikings" while rolling this character...
BTW, extra thought: Playing it as a Noble (Knight) so I can have three non-combat Gnomes or Goblin servants.
Excellent, as always. Thank you.
As someone who multiclassed into Rune Knight in late game play (after it officially came out). I can tell you that Cloud Rune is not inconsequential. Even at late levels Cloud Rune has changed the tides of major battles. I used Cloud Rune to redirect a critical hit from a Blade of Disaster and it was awesome.
Psi warrior has flight and resistance to psychic damage battlemaster fighter gets maneuvers which if you pick weaker maneuvers you are subpar to a set of competent maneuvers and at later levels you get a lessor regeneration compared to half cover and the spell telekinesis plus psi warrior gets more psi di then battlemaster fighter superiority di how is psi warrior b tier
For Psi Warrior, it's the extra focus on Intelligence that hinders me. it should let you use Intelligence instead of STR & DEX for attack and damaging similar to how the Hex Blade can use CHA. That would make it the class better without making it too powerful.
I love you guys. You guys make my day every time you guys release another video!
Rune knight seems pretty cool. Looking forward to giving it a try
Rune knight dragonborn is a kaiju. Rune knight warforged is a jaeger. You can basically make a Pacific Rim campaign
Halfling, gnome psi warrior? Naaah, im gonna make a kobold who'se life goal is growing to become as big as a dragon.
Psi Warrior is way better than the eldritch knight!
Psi Warrior Review
Psionic strike is a separate damage roll that happens after the initial triggering attack is resolved. It is force damage, so it’s immediately effective regardless of if the triggering attack was made with a magic weapon. Since it’s a separate damage roll, it isn’t effected by critical hits. It causes a 2nd separate concentration check against a caster instead of a potentially larger Concentration save DC. A feature like hexblades curse would add the proficiency damage a 2nd time to the Psionic strike. A feature like uncanny dodge which is focused on halving damage of an attack wouldn’t affect Psionic strike. This makes it a great tool to set your character up with advantage later since it gets augmented to potentially prone a creature. Your first hit you can use the feature without worrying you wasted it by not saving it for a crit, and it sets you up for the rest of your attacks and an action surge.
Protective field has a 30ft range, so it can be used for the fighter or an ally. The feature can reduce damage of any source. Breath weapons, spells, attacks, failed traps, or even fall damage. Fall damage is interesting since you might expose yourself to more fall damage more than most other classes due to being able to jump/fly all over the place. It should also be noted that although it’s probably not as reliable as somehow getting a source of reliable resistance, it does stack with all other damage reducing features like resistance, uncanny dodge, heavy armor master, etc. the damage reduction, even if seemingly insignificant, can be incredibly impactful depending on who you decide to keep on their feet. Giving up your reaction as a fighter, which is probably limited to a relatively weak attack of opportunity without significant investment or multiclassing or feats, might ensure an ally stays conscious of use their action economy rather than potentially going down for a round. While healing word is good, not needing to limit your spell casters turn to a bonus action spell and cantrip is potentially better. Even if that only successfully works once or twice a long rest. While you can be out of range, you can’t really “miss” with this ability. This may also be just enough damage reduction at high levels to make some of the ridiculously high concentration saves your casters face possible to make.
Telekinetic movement was talked about pretty accurately. I’d add that while there is a limit on object size, there isn’t a size limit placed on willing creatures. If for some reason you needed to move an allied gargantuan creature, you’d be able to do so.
Psi powered leap can be combined with your other features to move you and less mobile party members or objects quite far. Psi powered leap would allow the psi warrior to leap 120ft with a 30ft move speed and a dash. You could even zig zag and flavor it as double jumping off air if you’d like. Psi powered leap and telekinetic movement could be combined to allow you and multiple party members to traverse a 30ft gap so long as you target a large platform the party is on or in with your telekinetic movement. You could move the platform 30ft further if you action surge and land on it along the way.
Telekinetic thrust has the ability to prone a creature or move a creature 10ft horizontally in any direction on a failed save. Most forced movement features specify pushing away or pulling closer. The chance to move a creature in any of horizontal direction without having to move your own character can be much easier to use effectively than similar features. There’s also no size limitation either like mentioned in the video.
Guarded mind is amazing. The resistance to psychic damage is very situational, but the ability to spend a psi die to end the charmed or frightened condition with no action is amazing. These conditions can make most fighters almost useless. This can preserve your indomitable base class feature by allowing you to potentially save your uses for physical based saves. This also mitigates your need for wisdom and charisma saves a bit since those seem to be the source of most charm and fear effects, which further allows for your Intelligence investment if you want.
Bulwark of force is quite powerful with its area of effect, duration, and lack of concentration. It’s kind of like a mass armor of faith that also improves dexterity saves for your party.
Telekinetic master requires you to concentrate on the spell to get access to your bonus action attack, not your action to be used every turn. With telekinesis relatively cheap cost, 10 minute long duration, utility use to move the environment and creatures, it’s got a decent likelihood of being up before combat starts.
I’d like to point out that since telekinesis uses checks, and Psionic strikes telekinetic thrust isn’t actually magical or a spell, these effects both bypass the magical resistance feature. Also none of these features can be counterspelled, not even the telekinesis casting since it’s done entirely without components. In an area of anti magic, everything but the telekinesis spell continues to work. If your already concentrating on the telekinesis when the area of anti magic appears, you still get your bonus action attack.
16-18 intelligence is pretty much perfect for any psi warrior build, and 18 wouldn’t really be super effective until around 15th level with bulwark feature. This is based on a 4 person party. The fighter has a bit more room to be MAD anyways since they have more ASIs.
Well, you guys have convinced me to play a Rune Knight as my next character.
I will definitely research and homebrew additional runes to add choice and flavor to the build.