So I gotta tell you that you’re wrong about the jump ability for beast barbarian. Remember you ADD your athletics total check. Rage, then grapple. Then jump in the air as high as possible. Then body slam it.
I play a Path of the Beast Barbarian currently in a campaign and its a great time! Small correction, you can make the extra attacks with your claws as long as *either* of your hands are empty, you don't need both empty. This is especially good when you go with a dual wielding build, as you can have a real weapon in one hand and still get your extra claw attack!
The best part is that the extra claw attack isn't an Extra Attack, OR a bonus action. My character build allows a claw claw bite attack now. It's pretty fun
The great part is the action economy of it, when you get Extra Attack there's 3 attacks you can make. Take certain Feats or Monk levels, and then you'll get more with your Bonus Action. 3 attacks at 5th level, with Flurry of Blows you get 4 attacks. You can still use ki with Barbarian armor proficiencies, and can use Dex or Str for your Unarmed Strikes, so it's a viable combo for a good variety of stats. Just keep in mind you only get the 1st Unarmored Defense feature, the 2nd one will not only not stack, but can't replace the 1st RAW.
I mean any subclass that figures a lot on Enchantment stuff makes for great Villains as Enchantment is by far the most evil and unethical school of magic. Second in my opinion would be Divination.
@@hauz287 Necromancy itself isn’t really evil per se, people just view it in a negative light, and the people that use it tend to gravitate towards an evil alignment.
Modify memory also seems like a fantastic spell for the enchantment wizard and their split enchantment. Changing what one witness saw can get you out of a jam, changing what two saw can rewrite history
There's nothing that says the modified memories have to be the same. You could potentially have three people who all remember things completely differently. A three-way argument can make for a great distraction that might even grow in size as more people get involved.
The Friends cantrip is also a enchantment spell, and its big downside is that after it ends the target knows that you used magic on it to influence it, and so it's rightly pissed off. But what if it never remembers what happened? Spammable mental influence.....
"Suggest a Prince gives you his prized steed, and forget he ever did so." *gets steed, causes Prince to forget* Prince: "What are you doing with my steed!? GUARDS ARREST THEM!"
@@uriahronin4788 so once you leave the area the dude just leaves his horse? this isnt skyrim, he'll have the guard searching for it if it's a prized steed.
The wording is that you can alter a targets memories so that they don't remember being charmed, not that they forget the entire interaction. Most spells that have some kind of mind control effect usually have the downside that the target immeditely realizes that you used magic on them, so in this case, the Prince would remember giving you his steed, but would not remember that you used magic to make him do it.
Enchantment is one of my favourite wizard subclasses. Also, undeniably the most evil. A necromancer will use your body to kill your friends, an enchanter will make you kill your friends and you'll thank them for it
HONESTLY This were the exact words I thought when i read through Ascendent Dragon Monk. Astral Self will always be my favorite but this was my close second.
I played a four element monk in my last campaign and when my dm noticed that it sucks he let me change to ascended dragon, tied it to the character by having my warforged monk (called Trainingsdummy) go a little crazy and think they are an actual dragon, Lots of fun had rping that Also used the flying speed to become a living cannonball and accidentally destroying one of the Boss encounters, dm regrettet letting me reroll that day
4:29 or you target the bodyguard NEXT TO the spellcaster, making them attack the spellcaster dealing damage if it hits, likely taking a spell slot as the caster puts up a shield cus they know how powerful their bodyguard is, and taking both of their reactions
Played a knowledge domain cleric multiclassed into a battlesmith artificer in a campaign once. Will never forget that one, it was one of the most fun characters I ever played
My current character is a Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk, a Kobold who wants to become a Dragon, its been a constant source of amusement imagining a tiny 3 foot kobold flying past on spectral wings barfing fire exclaiming 'I'm a Dragon!'
Ay, I also played a vistani spirit bard with 2 levels of trickster cleric. Tones of fun. This was however after my shadow sorcerer dhampir joined up with Strad 😅
For Beast Barbarian I like to take the Unarmed Fighting style to never need to carry a weapon. Also maybe take a level in monk for a BA attack. If you take Way of the Ascendant Dragon with it you don’t have to go with 6 levels in Monk for your unarmed strikes to be magical and gives you 5 additional damage types (you can also make your bite claw and tail attacks dragon themed)
@@fendelphi I mean, a decent Barb will want a bit of Dex and Wis anyway for AC, Save, and Skill usage. Might be a problem if rolling for stats, but with pointbuy and the option to give races +1 to three stats, you can still have 16 Str to start with three other ability scores at 14. Some race and pointbuy array combos even allow for two 16s and two 14s at level 1.
"Are candles scary?" May I introduce you to the Greek Lampades, whom follow Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, and carried torches, lanterns, or CANDLES that is said to drive mortals insane upon being looked at. The Lampades took great pleasure in doing this, often going out of their way in groups to play "pranks", often causing mass hysteria and even free-for-all bloodbaths.
I had the opportunity to play with a high level Enchanter Wizard and let me say I was _not_ ready for how strong they were. The entire table was stunned the moment he ended a huge encounter by dropping a Mass Suggestion and forcing an entire warband of enemies to take a hike for eight hours.
Regarding the Beast Barbs Claws: it says that both hands transform and that you can use them as natural weapons, if free. It doesn't say that both need to be free for that extra attack, meaning you can make all attacks with one claw and carry a shield in the other hand
They count as simple weapons but yeah (them being simple weapons is super important because it unlocks a lot of jank like an eldritch knight being able to attune to your beast weapons and use them without needing to rage allowing multiple people to benefit from them, also artificers can put Infusions on them)
Also with the claws since they are a natural weapon attack they count as both a weapon attack and an unarmed attack. So u could do stuff like multiclass into Paladin and divine smite with them or since the claws are only a d6 u could get the unarmed fighting style to make it go up to a d8 (since again it’s considered an unarmed attack as well). It’s not much of a difference but it’s there. Heck u could multiclass into Monk and make 1 or 2 attacks with your claws as a bonus action for a total of 4-5 attacks in a turn. U could even enchant your claws since they are a weapon if u have like an artificer or multiclass into one or some other way to do it. Theirs just so many options that open up due to it counting as both. And theirs definitely more but this is all I can think of atm. Edit: clarification
I knew someone was going to say this. He has a plethora of the goofy stuff to look at. I honestly don’t understand this gripe. He was definitely going to go back to it anyway. It was inevitable. Drama content swap from fun content isn’t sustainable anyway. 🤷♂️
@@MerlinTheCommenter Maybe not, but it does have its uses. But yeah, the fun content is definitely more exciting, even if the more serious content (like concerns on what the company is doing) needs to be said every now and then.
7:08 - Currently playing a Dragon Monk and it was EXACTLY what I have waited for. The character was originally a Brawler in Pathfinder 1 and had the Elemental Fist feat line (for fire) qnd this subclass brings that vibe. Add the Gunner Feat (or a bow if you are basic) and you can fly, unload your shots as you sail past the enemies without them being able to hit you. It is amazing.
I run D&D games for people all over the world and have played for years, and I have never seen any of these subclasses played more than once, except number 2 which I think is played a little more than the others but not nearly enough! What subclasses do you think are underrated?
@@valor2746 I think the flavor of war cleric is rad, but the actual abilities, let’s be honest, kinda suck. The best ability is the level 1 ability, and even then it’s limited in use and only useful in multiclass builds
@@matthewletexier I do but I think it's fully booked atm! Slots open up occassionally though! I limit the amount of people at the higher tiers because my priority is putting on the best games I can, and that means keeping the group size small enough that everyone gets their moments to shine and running no more than 3 games a month so I have time to prep everything and invest fully into it! Keep an eye on the patreon though as every now and then spaces open at the Gold Dragon and Platinum Dragon tiers.
The knowledge cleric and the enchantment wizard are definitely underrated, they can be two of the most powerful classes in 5e if they are played properly.
100% underrated, but I can see why they are since dm may not be skilled enough to work with players how these 2 classes are meant be or players not creative enough to use class properly.
My first real multi-session D&D character was a knowledge domain cleric. "Eggsy" the egg-headed elf has some kind of magnetism I can't explain, and I think the subclass plays a big part of it. I play him pretty much every time I start a campaign with a new group, and something about being a good healer/skill monkey while being able to keep up in damage and social interaction with spiritual weapon and the buffed suggestion, it's just always well appreciated when played smart. Once I got comfortable with the rules, I pump Int, multi classed with scribe wizard and then you truly feel like the ultimate tome master as long as you're fine with ignoring arcane damage over divine. The roleplay is wide open and you can carry a group of martials without really lagging behind while leveling up for counterspell and revivify
Our campaign had a knowledge cleric named doc ter. Kept using doctor who references had a sonic screwdriver which was just a multi form tool kit. That changed shape to act as any toolkit needed.
I'm playing an ascendant dragon monk and I'm fairly certain the wings unfurled can be spent just on the "step of the wind" trigger. So you can also disengage as a bonus action if need be and just fly away.
Honestly the Path of the Beast barb jump effect can be pretty insane. You can get pretty insane hops out of that and make short work of any challenge involving a large gap. If your party needs to cross a bridge but it's trapped or there are enemies on the other side guarding it, your barbarian can easily jump 40+ ft (20 STR+20 total result on the Athletics check) and possibly cross the gap to break their defences long enough for the rest of the party to charge in while their attention is turned toward the raging were-beast that just jumped the gorge, and that alone makes for a pretty awesome fantasy to play out.
Agreed on the list there! And as a fresh D.M I update the Way of As.Dragon monk and Drake Warden from FizbanToD, alongside the Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer from PlayerH.B, so ALL three of these include Gem dragon dmg/ resistance types/drake apperance aswell ( Force, Necrotic, Psychic, Radiant, Thunder ) which is obvious to me that should have been OFFICIALY updated in especially Fizban T.oD.
Fun Fact: You can use and maintain the Enchantment Wizard's Hypnotic Gaze ability while Raging. Another Fun Fact is that you can use the bonus action attack from the Fathomless Warlock's Tentacle of the Deep or from the Spiritual Weapon spell to maintain Rage if you do not take damage in a round. At level 4 (1 Barb/2 Enchantment/1 Fathomless) you can make your DM apoplectic by round 1 running up to the biggest baddie, hypnotizing them, raging to take half damage and then keeping them locked down until all the minions are dead while slapping things with your tentacle. Add in Armor of Agathys and Gift of the Gem Dragon and you can just stand there doing nothing, raging, while magic abilities dish out damage for you.
I think it is redundant for Tabaxi. You get claws as a Beast that do more damage than Tabaxi claws. My Beast Barb is a shifter and I use Wild hunt which means that even when I reckless attack, no one gets advantage against me. AC 19. Hard to hit and a damage sponge. The shift even give me temp HP.
I love that you started out with the Knowledge domain. With the baseline Cleric abilities, it's impossible to build a useless Cleric, but they tend to be strongest in combat. Knowledge domain goes a long ways toward filling in the non-combat portion of their toolbox.
I just realized that Breath of the Dragon is extra awesome if you do a stunning strike first, because stunned targets automatically fail dexterity saving throws.
I just finished a two year campaign where I played a College of Spirits Bard. I was a nomadic exorcist priest. That subclass is wonderful for a utility caster.
What's nice about Hypnotic Gaze is that it isn't really limited at all, if the creature succeeds their saving throw or the effect ends it can't be used on them again for a certain amount of time, but you can just try it again on a different creature, and you can do that over and over again at no cost, it's basically an infinite mini hypnotic pattern that requires your action to keep up but DOESN'T require your concentration!
@@kailae3269 It is not. Each attack has attack roll. There are also special attacks like Grapple, Shove, but they are all described as attacks. Hypnotic gaze is neither attack nor spell. Discussion in this matter is really difficult, because it is really clear. It can be indeed home brewed by DM, but if we use RAW, it won’t end Invisibility spell.
Of all the videos and shorts youve done sir, this by far my favorite one. So glad you threw in the role-playing aspects of these classes as well. Because.. so many players forget that D&D IS a role-playing game. Bravo and cheers mate!
I got to play a way of the ascendant dragon monk for 2 sessions before the OGL thing and our group switched to Pathfinder. It was a lot of fun. The breath weapon is pretty underpowered but the flavor is so cool, and there's a lot of potential for creativity with them since most of the abilities don't eat your ki. My only complaint was the nerfs from the unearthed arcana. I don't know why they did it, the UA version was not at all unbalanced.
Honestly, sometimes we just ignore UA. Sometimes it just feels like they take the wind out of our sails, and that's no fun. Because monks are known for being super overpowered, right? /s
If you are looking for a fairly similar build in your PF2E game, consider asking your GM to allow you access to the Dragon Disciple archetype. Note that the access part of the archetype only means the way to turn the subclass into a "Common" available choice. It's just uncommon for everyone else. It will give you a good similar feel.
I actually made a character that was gonna be an Ascendant Dragon monk, but ended up never being used due to our DM cancelling the campaign for a Harry Potter Dungeon game.
I dunno if you touched on this in an earlier part of this "series", but... Way of the Shadow is like REALLY cool to play if you're multiclassing Rogue with Monk.
Love the Dragon Monk! Played one recently and had a great time, though it was only the Phandelver module, so only reached level 5 right at the end. Looking forward to a chance to continue with that character.
@@DSTkunn totally depends on your DM but since they're both different attack actions despite the same name, I personally would make you choose which bite you would use. But having a Dhampir Beast Barb could be fun since you can bite then claw so if you wanna go for it then go for it.
Actually, the way the Dhampir is written, you gain the amount of piercing damage done with your bite, regardless of the source of the bite.@@ceanuceanuceanuceanuceanuc4320
My party has both a knowledge domain cleric and a divination wizard. I have prepared so many encounters that they just completely avoided or invalidated, it's great.
I love my college of spirits bard. Whenever I use my Tales from beyond, I flavor it as an actual ghost appears and hovers around me. When used, the ghost will enter the person that receives the benefit. Makes my spooky fortune teller, medium even spookier
Hi, I'm currently playing a half-orc Ascendant Dragon monk. What attracted me to the sub class was the martial arts cries the use when fighting. They shout out things like Biff, Kapow or Sock (I save the last one for kicks), so they are doing the verbal equivalent of the 60's Batman TV series fight scenes. That's right, I'm playing Bat-monk! His name is Adaam Ouest and his melee weapon is a didgeridoo which doubles as a quarterstaff. Oh, and he throws polished dragon scales like batarangs.
Finally, someone else appreciates ascendent dragon monks. I don't know why people don't use them more, as the damage selection for you unarmed attacks is great in a lot of scenarios, such as bypassing physical damage resistances or simply doubling damage against enemies that have elemental weaknesses (also the breath attack damage increases to 3 rolls of the martial arts die at lv11)
When people talk about good rogue subclass, three names often come up : arcane trickster, swashbuckler and soul knife. Sure, all of them are cool, but I would argue that the Phantom archetype is somewhat on the same level. It give you decent bonus in and out of combat, and is really flavorfull. One of my player wanted to play a rogue haunted by spirits, but didn't want to use spell, so I pointed him to this subclass, and he really enjoyed it so far.
For beast barbarian I have a idea for a pirate dwarf I have in mind. He was once apart of a mighty army but had to leave or was kicked out (still working on that part of his backstory.) and he didn't know anything outside of fighting so he joined a pirates crew. He learned his way around a ship and the sea fairing ways quickly and enjoyed this new life for a time till they were attacked by adventurerers paid to get rid of them. The entire crew died and he was about to drown, exhausted and severely injured he couldn't swim any longer and his body failed him. He sank into the depths of the sea thinking this is it till he heard a voice in his head. A second chance. He made a deal with a mysterious being at the depths of the ocean and was able to live tusks to it. After recovering he eventually went back to land and swore to get revenge for his old crew but also succeed where they failed. He'll become a pirate and a mighty one, own that doesn't just steal and kill but also rule and become a legend. After making a deal with the being he would be able to shift parts of his body to help him in battle. The tail would be a tentacle and the claws, also tentacles but more then one. The bite a beak, ones octopuses have. Also thinking of going a few levels into fathomlees warlock for the surviving part to make sense I guess but I think I'll just go straight barbarian.
Pact of the chain Warlock + Scourge aasimar... take the Gift of The Ever Living one's feat, and you gain damage buffs from scourge (while hurting yourself) but always get max heals from any spells or potions from the feat... basically buffs your glass cannon warlock, and means you can ignore any damage that doesn't insta kill you by just healing and not having to worry about rolling a 1 on your heal
If your DM lets you work in Simic Hybrid as something setting specific for a non-Ravnica game, the Path of Beast is a great way to explore being a weird body horror hero; Circle of Spore druid is also fun for leaning into that sort of 'oh gross' stuff if you get creative in describing how your spells get cast from your body and how you use spell components.
I homebrewed a plant race called the Spriggan (balanced on par with kenku or something, nothing crazy) that one of my players ran as a myconid with Circle of Spores. Spraying spores out of his head like a Cordyceps always gave the party looks of concern.
Since the barbarian doesn't have fighting styles, they have less reservations about swapping weapons if the situation calls for it. That synergizes well with the versatility of Beast barbarian. Low on health? Whip out a shield, battleaxe and some teeth to give you a higher AC and heal a little bit. Need to do damage? Claws and dual wielding scimitars or hand axes can give you four attacks at level 5. Need to hold the line? A glaive with a tail can help keep enemies away.
Jump at sixth level is amazing. I have a ring of jumping and tavern brawler on my Tabaxi Beast totem barbarian. I grab someone with an action, double my speed to 100ft, jump into the air and drop them off where I want them for extra fall damage. And yes, we half the speed for carrying someone, although we have sort of realised it seems a bit silly the rules don't differentiate between me dragging a Halflings or an Ogre. Plus, it makes it easy to jump up and take flying enemies out of the sky.
After watching this video, I had an amazing idea for a ridiculously fun multi-class character. Loxodon Beast Barbarian/Drunken Master Monk. Form of the beast weapons are considered simple melee weapons, and therefore monk weapons, which means it can benefit from both rage and martial arts. The AC bonus from the tail can help compensate for reckless attack. The loxodon trunk acts as an unarmed weapon, and can be used as a snorkel while swimming, taking care of the big bonus of the first of the Bestial Soul effect, which leaves you free to use the second effect all the time, and when combined with level 9 unarmored movement means that the only thing you can't do is fly. Throw in feats like Alert to compliment Feral Instinct, Mobile because you'll be moving around a lot and the extra movement will compensate for splitting Monk levels, along with Barbarian Fast Movement, Shield Master to help with shoving and dex saves (and shields can be dropped), and Tough to compensate for splitting Barbarian levels HP. Loxodon Serenity grants advantage against being charmed or frightened, which means you're using an action to use Stillness of Mind less often, but it's there if you need. I'd say 11 levels of monk and 9 levels of Barbarian at max level, but long before that, you'll be a Rampaging Pink Elephant.
the jump of the beast barb is actually the best option of the 3. with 18 str at level 6. you can jump 3.5 ft up without a running start and rolling the d20. if you take skill expert athletics with the beast barb ability, even if you roll a 1, you can jump 10 ft up in the air which is the minimum threshold for forcing falling dmg (1d6/2) and a dc 15 dex save or fall prone to an enemy you fall on. if you roll an 11 or higher the falling dmg goes up to 2d6/2. and this is done by just consuming part of your movement. its free dmg and chance for prone. scaling wise, at 20 str with +6 prof bonus and rolling a 20, you can jump 40 ft up for 4d6/2 falling dmg and chance for prone. so yeah climb the top turnbuckle with your beast barb and frog splash your opponent.
Honestly, this just cemented my love for Path of the Beast Barbarian. I never really thought of the class being that interesting (except for the Wild Magic Barbarian, which is a treat), but one of my favorite characters i ever built was a Simic Hybrid POB Barbarian/Inquisitive Rogue The backstory was that he was a genetically engineered infantry soldier for a colony (they were all based on ants). With that build you could climb or swim whenever you wanted, attack three times per turn with the claws, plus close range sneak attack damage with Insightful Fighting (From Inquisitive). So, at level 20, every turn this build could deal +50 pts of damage every round. Yes, Totem Barbarians have resistance to all damage, but with a Shield and Tail up, you could reliably shrug off most hits with 0 damage and a reach attack.
I used the knowledge domain with the OneDnD cleric. With the knowledge domain's expertise and the holy order (scholar), at lvl 15, i had a +12 in 4 skills, investigation, nature, arcana and history, it was insane
Played recently in a oneshot with my Path of The Beast Barbarian. She was a knight in some small order dedicated to destroying undead but due to overestimating her abilities, wish to show her devotion and some misfortune she was turned into a dhampire and was forced to run and hide. Her "beast" form is basically her monstrosity form (like light version of vampire lord from Elder Scrolls) and her "class abilities" are ways to survive and thrive of her monstrous self which she learns to control. I think it's a nice blend of class and race together :) So much pleasure to create, roleplay and fight with her :)
Three points- Enchantment Wizards tend to use Manacles and rope to get the best out of the Gaze so having a familiar or summon that can help with that is a must. (Note that knotting the rope you familiar wrapped them in is not going to allow a reaction) also this is not concentration effect. So. It makes a great back up if you need to pick up the last enemy that saved hypnotic pattern and is still intent on hitting you to break the spell. Knowledge domain + Soulknife means you are able to use all skills and tools and have a huge chance to be effective for 10 minutes at a time. Dragon Monk - originally they flew until the end of your next turn but they removed that because they realized that if you can slow fall. So fly dash fly up to the silly dragon (90ft at base) stunning strike them midair. And then slow fall. Not only can they do a nice amount of damage to fliers in similar fashion regularly because KI points come back on a short rest. (They are still not at par but hey you be a monk mostly to look good :) )
Magic Domain cleric is another awesome subclass. The spellbreaker feature at 6th level is very useful against enemy casters who have debuffed your allies.
My brother created a Simic Hybrid Beast Barbarian in our Ravnica game where the race itself offered the ability to have animal modifications as you leveled up. I don't remember all of his abilities but i remember something giving him a gliding feature like a flying squirrel has in real life & he had these weird spider like arms (only two of them & connected to his body on his back, around where his shoulder blade's are located). I think those allowed for him to grapple someone while also clawing their eyes out with his barbarian claw weapons. Our story was about the Nephilim of Ravnica returning. (They are a one-off set of four 4-colored Magic cards that were put inside the first Ravnica set; they are weird abominations with all of this allowing the DM to truly customize their history which stated they were like the last of a forerunner race that Niv-Mizzet & a group of other older creatures such as Ilharg, the Raze-Boar, who is printed with the God creature type that locked them away after destroying the lower forms of life the Nephilim had created. Anyways, my brother was supposedly engineered by the simic, with others like himself as a warring species used to combat the Nephilim. They pretty much grew them in vats & they all had a base race, such as Vedalken/Human/Elf but the Simic had modified their DNA to be very malleable & granted their changing body parts. I remember, he was introduced to the party while we were traversing the simic compound to see if they knew the origins of the Nephilim. He had somehow been defective & was not connected to a hivemind like the other warriors & broke out of his gestation pod thing. Everything about his character was really cool & his ability to not need any sort of weapons or armor allowed for him to purchase weird gadgets that were useful to the party that were created by a crazed goblin from the Izzet League. 10/10 would play Ravnica again.
I’m currently playing a path of the beast barbarian, and have found that they have a great combo with longtooth shifters, as comboing your claws with your bite allows you to make 4 attacks, and since its not two weapon fighting you still add strength to damage on the bonus action bite. Furthermore, the claws only require 1 free hand to use the extra attack, so you can use a shield and still gain the full benefit of 4 attacks without requiring the two weapon fighting style to keep up in damage. Also thematically, the combo of the long tooth shifter bite attack with the barbarian claws means you’re pretty much a full on werewolf at that point, and can truly rip and tear.
way of the dragon monk + beast barb seems crazy. at level 6 you can do like 5d6 damage every turn. and you also get to climb up walls with grappled enemies with no check (id you have the bestial soul claws) and body slam them on the ground all while reducing your own falling speed with your level 4 monk feature. add the deflect missiles reaction to the damage resistance from raging and youre also almost impervious to the ranged attacks which are the only ones that can reach you if you camp out on high walls of ceilings. oh yeah, and you get to custom pick your elemental damage type aswell!
I've had a blast playing an ascendant dragon monk! Took a few levels in ranger bc the party needed someone who could handle a gun, and ended up going with the drakewarden subclass for EVEN MORE DRAGON. Having a couple spells and a familiar in battle definitely rounds out some of its weaknesses, but ascendant dragon monk is worth it for flavor and cool factor alone imo.
Multi-Subclass: Defender of the Green (Tank, Lv 9) Moon Druid (6)/Ranger Hunter (3) We want 12, 14, 17, 8, 15, 8 for Stats to start and take 1 Con, 1 Wis at Lv. 4 Moon Druid is mostly to get the deeper pool of Wildshape for HP sponging. Any flavour of Druid works for this, really. At Ranger 2, take Defensive Fighting for +1 AC, then at 3 take Hunter for Horde Breaker. This gives you 19 AC at Level 9, without any bonuses from armour, shield, misc., 90+ HP(+2 Combat Wild Shapes) and enough slots for AoE CC spells to drive your DM (and party) insane. Throw in being a Warforged, the Warcaster Feat, a +3 between Armour and Shield and you've got a 23 AC, plus some nice immunities.
Ill always love ascendant dragon monk because it allows you to bonus action dash 100ft up in the air, fall onto an enemy, force a dex save or split the fall damage between the two, and you can just featherfall your side of the damage away. you can use mobile to augment that movement speed and stop them from taking opportunity attacks, use mind sliver to subtract from their saving throw, or it's also good when a party member has restrained a target with a spell.
I play a Tabaxi way of the ascendant dragon monk, the movement speed is crazy, 45 feet ATM, double that with cats grace, then I can move 180 feet using step of the wind and still attack at the end, 270 feet if I just want to run away lol; also, I found out you can use breath of the dragon as a 20 foot circle aoe if you use your spectral wings to fly 20 feet up and fire a cone directly down, really gives some avatar vibes when you pull stuff like that off
I played a Beast Barbarian Archaeologist for Candlekeep, she wasn't optimized, but it was a game we had maybe 3 rounds of combat over 6 sessions. Nesali had 16 Int and a +11 History check. But also, she was a barbarian... so she had tons of HP compared to the rest of the party for the rare times we had to fight. Narratively, we decided her Beast path was a yuan-ti malison mutation. I've also played a Dhampir Spirits Bard in some of Beth the Bard's playtests for some adventures. It's quite fun. And one of Nesali's party members was a goblin spirit bard.
Dhampir Beast Barbarian is the most fun Ive had in any D&D game. Not only do you get to make all the Morbius jokes but dropping from the ceiling with 4 reckless attack lets you out-monster the monsters. So good.
The extra cool thing about the Spirits Bard to me is that you can retain the Tale you tell until you use it or finish a rest, it doesn't require concentration or anything to keep it in mind you just keep until it's spent, I think it mitigates the randomness of the Wild Surge type classes by letting you decide how to use it. You can also roll it well before combat even begins and decide when in the day to use it. I'm kinda cheating in my game, I play a Spirit Bard that is also a ghost who doesn't need to take short or long rests so long as I don't use up all my resources, so I can just kind keep the tales for however long I want.
I’m playing a level 6 Custom Lineage Beast Barbarian, having taken Tavern Brawler and Skill Expert (for Athletics expertise) and have themed around being a professional wrestler. The level 6 jumping option has been fantastic and so much fun to live into the bit - after attacking my target 3x with claws and then grappling them as a BA, I can *from a standing position* jump up to 20 feet into the air and come back down with them (which I flavor as a spinning pile driver) for an extra 1- to 2d6 bludgeoning damage from the fall that knocks us both prone. And then, once on the ground prone, I release the grapple to get my other half of my speed back, which I use to stand back up. It’s the best
My vote for underrated MVP subclass goes to the Arcana Domain Cleric. Arcane Initiate, Potent Cantrip, and Arcane Mastery are all fantastic abilities. I'll touch on those in just a sec, as they deserve their own discussion. Spell Breaker is, surprisingly, situationally good when paired with the Identify spell. The only two things that I don't like about it are that you have to use an actual healing spell (not an ability that heals), and you can only target an ally with this ability; if one could target an enemy with it, it could be hilariously good. I'd say that the weakest ability they have is their Arcane Abjuration Channel Divinity ability, as it only affects a creature up to a max of CR 4 by level 17, and that it only affects celestials, fey, fiends, and elementals. But being able to banish them (as per the Banishment spell), after PC level five, is certainly worth noticing for some tier 1/tier 2 fights. ============================ With that out of the way, I'll touch on the other abilities now. Arcane Initiate and Potent Cantrip are really good for a Cleric, both in the early and in the mid game, depending on the two cantrips that the player chose. One very big problem that the Cleric has to deal with in the beginning is the lack of access to an attack roll based cantrip (ex., Firebolt, Chill Touch, Ray of Frost, etc.), once the player hits mid tier 2, and Arcane Initiate cleanly fixes that problem starting at 1st level. Potent Cantrip adds fuel to the "Arcane Initiate" fire, for obvious reasons. But it can't be under-stated, or underestimated, at all. Free damage is free damage. ============================ And now, Arcane Mastery... Arcane Mastery is the ability that really seals the deal for me. Being able to take (as a Domain spell), and cast, any one 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th level spell, from the Wizard spell list, is really nothing short of amazeballs. Here's a short list of some Wizard Spells that are eligible: Wish Simulacrum Contingency Forcecage Psychic Scream Plane Shift True Sight Teleport Magic Jar Clone Demiplane Prismatic Wall Reverse Gravity Disintegrate Maze Gate Invulnerability True Polymorph Etc. All of them, and more, become accessible with this ability, starting at PC level 17. If there's a high level Wizard-based spell combo out there that a given player wants to do, or even a high level Wizard/Cleric spell-based combo, this ability can make that happen. It's just like a Bard's "Magical Secrets" ability, albeit in a slightly limited way. ============================ Oddly enough, for multiclassing purposes, Druids who take a 1 level dip as an Arcana Domain Cleric also shore up a weakness of theirs, which is a lack of range on their attack roll based cantrips. For DM's who are sticklers for flavor/rules when it comes to Druids (i.e., no using metal armor or metal shields), this 1 level dip helps them stay out of melee. This is important because Produce Flame and Magic Stone are the only two cantrips on the Druid spell list with any sort of range (60 ft. For Magic Stone, 30 ft. For Produce Flame), and a 1 level dip into Arcana Domain fixes that issue via Wizard cantrips that use your Wisdom modifier. ============================ The Arcana Domain actually makes me want to mechanically play a Cleric PC again, and I'm normally not that big of a fan of Clerics, due to them being "secretly" MAD (Dex. + Wis., usually), just like a Bard is (Dex. + Cha., usually). Unlike Bards, however, there aren't very many good SAD multiclass options for Clerics, and the Arcana Domain subclass makes a SAD (Wisdom-based) spellcaster competitively viable.
Haha, oh my gosh, I don't think I ever expected to see a commissioned art piece of one of my D&D characters on a UA-cam cover! Nice! Roderick Elsworth, Knowledge Cleric and Chronurgy Wizard Extraordinaire. He was lovely fun to play. His lantern was (is?) his spell focus!
re: the Knowledge Clerics' channel divinity, cooking meals, making disguises, or doing any kind of crafting takes longer than 10 minutes, so you can't really use this feature for that. What it _does_ come in handy for is knowing little details that only someone trained in those professions would know, giving yourself advantage or removing disadvantage on checks that some DMs might not even allow you to make otherwise. So, doing exactly what a Knowledge Cleric is meant to do.
I made a spirits bard who started with one level in death cleric for the medium armor/shield and the TotD which hits two targets. Bard focus was a skull embedded in the shield and cleric focus was an embedded symbol.
So, something that was kinda cool my DM did. I was playing a 2nd level elven monk who was heading into the Way of the Shadow, however i ate a fish which turned me into a half-dragon, specifically Crystal Gemstone. Due to this, i went all into Dragon-based stuff, which was Ascendant Dragon Monk and Circle of the Wyrm Druid (Valda's Spire of Secret's). He actually let me use Crystal as my Ascendant Dragon and Wyrm subclass features, instead of the normal stuff which mainly gave Radiant as a damage type for me to use
I've just started playing a spirit bard after taking two levels in divination wizard. Hoping to get a Darren Brown feel to it, particularly after taking the telepathic feat to really help me get my readings accurate!
The first character I ever played was a knowledge cleric. The DM mistook him for a wizard a few time because of the high rolls in history and arcana I was getting. And that became the running joke in the party for quite some time.
For the Beast Barbarian’s jump ability, I actually think it could be the most useful if you build around it. If you take simic hybrid for manta ray fins and grappling appendages, take magic initiate jump, expertise in athletics (to grapple), and a 2 level dip in monk for step of the wind, this is a pretty cool build. Cast jump on yourself and rage, wait until your next turn, bonus action step of the wind and dash to your enemy, grapple them (with +11 to athletics AND advantage because of rage) and jump for (3 + 5 + 10.5 + 11) x 6 at 8th level, going on average 180 feet, doing 18d6 damage knocking them prone. YOU glide 360 feet away because of the manta ray fins, while only taking 4d6 damage plus falling prone, which won’t matter because you’re 400 feet away and your enemy is hopefully dead. This is also a very cool thematic build, especially if you take rune fighter so you’re this awesome mutant hybrid with fins, tails and tentacles or claws, which would lead to some awesome character building. In the words of D&D shorts, ENJOY!
Check out the Wyrmwood Modular Gaming Table right here!! wyrmwoodgaming.com/dndshorts
Guess I'll go rob a bank then
I enjoy your serious ads as much as I enjoy your D&D content. Most other channels I skip over the ads but not yours.
@@kida4313 can i come too?
Ooooh, are they sending you one?
So I gotta tell you that you’re wrong about the jump ability for beast barbarian. Remember you ADD your athletics total check. Rage, then grapple. Then jump in the air as high as possible. Then body slam it.
I play a Path of the Beast Barbarian currently in a campaign and its a great time! Small correction, you can make the extra attacks with your claws as long as *either* of your hands are empty, you don't need both empty. This is especially good when you go with a dual wielding build, as you can have a real weapon in one hand and still get your extra claw attack!
Beast Barbarian Thri-Kreen is amazing
I play a beast barb monk for 5 attacks per turn with flurry of blows. Claws are a monk weapon!
The best part is that the extra claw attack isn't an Extra Attack, OR a bonus action. My character build allows a claw claw bite attack now. It's pretty fun
The great part is the action economy of it, when you get Extra Attack there's 3 attacks you can make. Take certain Feats or Monk levels, and then you'll get more with your Bonus Action. 3 attacks at 5th level, with Flurry of Blows you get 4 attacks.
You can still use ki with Barbarian armor proficiencies, and can use Dex or Str for your Unarmed Strikes, so it's a viable combo for a good variety of stats.
Just keep in mind you only get the 1st Unarmored Defense feature, the 2nd one will not only not stack, but can't replace the 1st RAW.
I was thinking more in line with using a shield and still dishing out great sword damage.
I made a major villain in a campaign an Enchantment Wizard and he instilled a healthy amount of paranoia for the party with his antics.
I mean any subclass that figures a lot on Enchantment stuff makes for great Villains as Enchantment is by far the most evil and unethical school of magic. Second in my opinion would be Divination.
@@Noobie2k7 necromancy is a school don't forget 😈
@@hauz287 Necromancy itself isn’t really evil per se, people just view it in a negative light, and the people that use it tend to gravitate towards an evil alignment.
Did he do it with hypnotic gays?
@@MayHuggeridk man, necromancers perverse the laws of nature, seems evil to me
Knowledge Cleric: 0:06
Beast Barbarian: 2:15
Ascendant Dragon Monk: 7:06
Enchantment Wizard: 10:55
College of Spirits Bard: 14:16
Doing the Lord’s work 🙏
Thank you 🙏
I wish there was a video on Arcane Pastry chef and time traveler. They exist in the wiki, just saying.
@@brimstoneclub what
@@brimstoneclubThose are not official subclasses, so that's probably why.
Modify memory also seems like a fantastic spell for the enchantment wizard and their split enchantment. Changing what one witness saw can get you out of a jam, changing what two saw can rewrite history
Ah yes, the False Hydra Method
There's nothing that says the modified memories have to be the same. You could potentially have three people who all remember things completely differently. A three-way argument can make for a great distraction that might even grow in size as more people get involved.
Let's not forget about the spell feeblemind also an enchantment spell
The Friends cantrip is also a enchantment spell, and its big downside is that after it ends the target knows that you used magic on it to influence it, and so it's rightly pissed off.
But what if it never remembers what happened?
Spammable mental influence.....
"Suggest a Prince gives you his prized steed, and forget he ever did so."
*gets steed, causes Prince to forget*
Prince: "What are you doing with my steed!? GUARDS ARREST THEM!"
Clearly you would leave the area before the spell/effect wears off.
@@uriahronin4788 so once you leave the area the dude just leaves his horse? this isnt skyrim, he'll have the guard searching for it if it's a prized steed.
@@deffdefying4803 thats when you just saw the certificate of ownership signed over to you by the prince lol
The wording is that you can alter a targets memories so that they don't remember being charmed, not that they forget the entire interaction. Most spells that have some kind of mind control effect usually have the downside that the target immeditely realizes that you used magic on them, so in this case, the Prince would remember giving you his steed, but would not remember that you used magic to make him do it.
I thought the same. Better to make him forget he was charmed, not the whole transaction
Enchantment is one of my favourite wizard subclasses. Also, undeniably the most evil. A necromancer will use your body to kill your friends, an enchanter will make you kill your friends and you'll thank them for it
Way of the Ascendent Dragon sounds like what people wanted out of Way of the Four Elements.
It really reminded me of the 4 elements remaster that went round a few years back.
HONESTLY This were the exact words I thought when i read through Ascendent Dragon Monk. Astral Self will always be my favorite but this was my close second.
I’m currently playing an ascendant dragon monk, and it’s actually a really fun subclass. Now if only I could play as the monk properly. 😅
Dragon monk is something I'm planning on playing as a backup for one of my games if my current PC dies
I played a four element monk in my last campaign and when my dm noticed that it sucks he let me change to ascended dragon, tied it to the character by having my warforged monk (called Trainingsdummy) go a little crazy and think they are an actual dragon, Lots of fun had rping that
Also used the flying speed to become a living cannonball and accidentally destroying one of the Boss encounters, dm regrettet letting me reroll that day
Knowledge Domain Clerics 0:08
Beast Barbarian 02:17
Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk 07:08
Enchanment Wizards 10:53
College of Spirits of Bard 14:16
Not all heroes wear capes
4:29 or you target the bodyguard NEXT TO the spellcaster, making them attack the spellcaster dealing damage if it hits, likely taking a spell slot as the caster puts up a shield cus they know how powerful their bodyguard is, and taking both of their reactions
Or it does enough damage that the spellcaster loses concentration on a spell.
Played a knowledge domain cleric multiclassed into a battlesmith artificer in a campaign once. Will never forget that one, it was one of the most fun characters I ever played
Thank you for the love for College of Spirits Bard. I’m in my first campaign and using this subclass and I think it’s amazing.
My current character is a Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk, a Kobold who wants to become a Dragon, its been a constant source of amusement imagining a tiny 3 foot kobold flying past on spectral wings barfing fire exclaiming 'I'm a Dragon!'
I mean good for them they're embracing their genetic heritage as the race closest to being true dragons
I'm in my corner with a Warforged one
I have an Kobold character with the same motivation. Difference is he’s an Armorer and his suit of armor is made to look like a dragon
That's sick I may have to use it@@marioramunno4180
I'm playing a Spirits Bard in Curse of Strahd. Playing as a Vistani and definitely has great flavor for it.
Ay, I also played a vistani spirit bard with 2 levels of trickster cleric. Tones of fun. This was however after my shadow sorcerer dhampir joined up with Strad 😅
For Beast Barbarian I like to take the Unarmed Fighting style to never need to carry a weapon. Also maybe take a level in monk for a BA attack. If you take Way of the Ascendant Dragon with it you don’t have to go with 6 levels in Monk for your unarmed strikes to be magical and gives you 5 additional damage types (you can also make your bite claw and tail attacks dragon themed)
The problem of course RAW beast barbarians aren't unarmed those natural weapons are classed as simple weapons not unarmed attacks.
You have to go MAD if you want Monk though. You need a minimum 13 in Strength, Dexterity and Wisdom.
@@darkdragonsoul99
Havent read the beast subclass but if they are simple weapons they are monk weapons. Monk weapons are simple weapons+shortswords.
@@fendelphi I mean, a decent Barb will want a bit of Dex and Wis anyway for AC, Save, and Skill usage. Might be a problem if rolling for stats, but with pointbuy and the option to give races +1 to three stats, you can still have 16 Str to start with three other ability scores at 14. Some race and pointbuy array combos even allow for two 16s and two 14s at level 1.
@@Shalakor Point buy can be rough when you want Str, Dex, and Con
"Are candles scary?" May I introduce you to the Greek Lampades, whom follow Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, and carried torches, lanterns, or CANDLES that is said to drive mortals insane upon being looked at. The Lampades took great pleasure in doing this, often going out of their way in groups to play "pranks", often causing mass hysteria and even free-for-all bloodbaths.
What if your spellcasting focus was a candle of evocation. That could be scary
I had the opportunity to play with a high level Enchanter Wizard and let me say I was _not_ ready for how strong they were. The entire table was stunned the moment he ended a huge encounter by dropping a Mass Suggestion and forcing an entire warband of enemies to take a hike for eight hours.
Regarding the Beast Barbs Claws: it says that both hands transform and that you can use them as natural weapons, if free. It doesn't say that both need to be free for that extra attack, meaning you can make all attacks with one claw and carry a shield in the other hand
They count as simple weapons but yeah (them being simple weapons is super important because it unlocks a lot of jank like an eldritch knight being able to attune to your beast weapons and use them without needing to rage allowing multiple people to benefit from them, also artificers can put Infusions on them)
Also with the claws since they are a natural weapon attack they count as both a weapon attack and an unarmed attack. So u could do stuff like multiclass into Paladin and divine smite with them or since the claws are only a d6 u could get the unarmed fighting style to make it go up to a d8 (since again it’s considered an unarmed attack as well). It’s not much of a difference but it’s there. Heck u could multiclass into Monk and make 1 or 2 attacks with your claws as a bonus action for a total of 4-5 attacks in a turn. U could even enchant your claws since they are a weapon if u have like an artificer or multiclass into one or some other way to do it. Theirs just so many options that open up due to it counting as both. And theirs definitely more but this is all I can think of atm.
Edit: clarification
I am so glad we are back to the goofy content I love! I Hope they won’t mess up so bad in the future…
Totally agree :)
I knew someone was going to say this. He has a plethora of the goofy stuff to look at. I honestly don’t understand this gripe. He was definitely going to go back to it anyway. It was inevitable. Drama content swap from fun content isn’t sustainable anyway. 🤷♂️
@@MerlinTheCommenter Your comment seems to imply that OC has a gripe with him going back to fun stuff? Which is just?? Like what even
@@MerlinTheCommenter Maybe not, but it does have its uses. But yeah, the fun content is definitely more exciting, even if the more serious content (like concerns on what the company is doing) needs to be said every now and then.
I really enjoy the divine soul sorcerer. Any class that can play way more support than you expect is always fun.
Divine Soul/Celestial sorlock = best support healer ever.
7:08 - Currently playing a Dragon Monk and it was EXACTLY what I have waited for. The character was originally a Brawler in Pathfinder 1 and had the Elemental Fist feat line (for fire) qnd this subclass brings that vibe.
Add the Gunner Feat (or a bow if you are basic) and you can fly, unload your shots as you sail past the enemies without them being able to hit you.
It is amazing.
I run D&D games for people all over the world and have played for years, and I have never seen any of these subclasses played more than once, except number 2 which I think is played a little more than the others but not nearly enough! What subclasses do you think are underrated?
War Cleric. Can really fit the theme of that warrior chosen by the gods or a warrior that asked the gods for help. Ie. -Kratos shouting to Ares.
Do you still run games for patrons? I might be interested
@@valor2746 I think the flavor of war cleric is rad, but the actual abilities, let’s be honest, kinda suck. The best ability is the level 1 ability, and even then it’s limited in use and only useful in multiclass builds
@@matthewletexier I do but I think it's fully booked atm! Slots open up occassionally though! I limit the amount of people at the higher tiers because my priority is putting on the best games I can, and that means keeping the group size small enough that everyone gets their moments to shine and running no more than 3 games a month so I have time to prep everything and invest fully into it! Keep an eye on the patreon though as every now and then spaces open at the Gold Dragon and Platinum Dragon tiers.
Any Druid subclass because I feel like I’m the only person that’s ever played a Druid
I feel quite vindicated because these are all subclasses that I've either recently played or convinced a friend to try out and we had so much fun
I played a beast barbarian for icewinddale. It was so much fun. It could use a little more flexibility, but the flavor is damn near msg levels.
I bet you showed those winter wolves who the real alpha was.
The knowledge cleric and the enchantment wizard are definitely underrated, they can be two of the most powerful classes in 5e if they are played properly.
I REALLY want to create a knowledge Cleric
Time to do some research and build one
100% underrated, but I can see why they are since dm may not be skilled enough to work with players how these 2 classes are meant be or players not creative enough to use class properly.
My first real multi-session D&D character was a knowledge domain cleric. "Eggsy" the egg-headed elf has some kind of magnetism I can't explain, and I think the subclass plays a big part of it.
I play him pretty much every time I start a campaign with a new group, and something about being a good healer/skill monkey while being able to keep up in damage and social interaction with spiritual weapon and the buffed suggestion, it's just always well appreciated when played smart.
Once I got comfortable with the rules, I pump Int, multi classed with scribe wizard and then you truly feel like the ultimate tome master as long as you're fine with ignoring arcane damage over divine. The roleplay is wide open and you can carry a group of martials without really lagging behind while leveling up for counterspell and revivify
@eliezeririzarry247 What if you used a Pallid Elf as the elven race?.
That's going to be some solid skill monkeying.
Our campaign had a knowledge cleric named doc ter. Kept using doctor who references had a sonic screwdriver which was just a multi form tool kit. That changed shape to act as any toolkit needed.
Actually, that Monk subclass sounds fun. I’ve been working on a Monk/Barbarian mix, so I’ll remember that Dragon goodness for later. Thanks, man!
I'm playing an ascendant dragon monk and I'm fairly certain the wings unfurled can be spent just on the "step of the wind" trigger. So you can also disengage as a bonus action if need be and just fly away.
Honestly the Path of the Beast barb jump effect can be pretty insane. You can get pretty insane hops out of that and make short work of any challenge involving a large gap.
If your party needs to cross a bridge but it's trapped or there are enemies on the other side guarding it, your barbarian can easily jump 40+ ft (20 STR+20 total result on the Athletics check) and possibly cross the gap to break their defences long enough for the rest of the party to charge in while their attention is turned toward the raging were-beast that just jumped the gorge, and that alone makes for a pretty awesome fantasy to play out.
Rabbitfolk beast barbarian's boosted jump is so much fun
Played one at 6th level in a one shot. Very fun build!
That just sounds like flying for a turn, which obviously is awesome XD. Gonna need a really good landing plan tho
Those have got to be the most toned legs in the world.
Love rabbitfolk it's hilarious to hear about the stories about lv 1 rabbit wizards who immediately died upon using their jump
Agreed on the list there! And as a fresh D.M I update the Way of As.Dragon monk and Drake Warden from FizbanToD, alongside the Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer from PlayerH.B, so ALL three of these include Gem dragon dmg/ resistance types/drake apperance aswell ( Force, Necrotic, Psychic, Radiant, Thunder ) which is obvious to me that should have been OFFICIALY updated in especially Fizban T.oD.
This actually made me realize that knowledge cleric would be a great 1 level dip for a druid to get expert Nature and Religion/Arcana
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Fun Fact: You can use and maintain the Enchantment Wizard's Hypnotic Gaze ability while Raging. Another Fun Fact is that you can use the bonus action attack from the Fathomless Warlock's Tentacle of the Deep or from the Spiritual Weapon spell to maintain Rage if you do not take damage in a round. At level 4 (1 Barb/2 Enchantment/1 Fathomless) you can make your DM apoplectic by round 1 running up to the biggest baddie, hypnotizing them, raging to take half damage and then keeping them locked down until all the minions are dead while slapping things with your tentacle. Add in Armor of Agathys and Gift of the Gem Dragon and you can just stand there doing nothing, raging, while magic abilities dish out damage for you.
Beast barbarian is great for Tabaxi. Pair it with an Eldritch Claw Tattoo.
I think it is redundant for Tabaxi. You get claws as a Beast that do more damage than Tabaxi claws. My Beast Barb is a shifter and I use Wild hunt which means that even when I reckless attack, no one gets advantage against me. AC 19. Hard to hit and a damage sponge. The shift even give me temp HP.
I love that you started out with the Knowledge domain. With the baseline Cleric abilities, it's impossible to build a useless Cleric, but they tend to be strongest in combat. Knowledge domain goes a long ways toward filling in the non-combat portion of their toolbox.
I just realized that Breath of the Dragon is extra awesome if you do a stunning strike first, because stunned targets automatically fail dexterity saving throws.
I just finished a two year campaign where I played a College of Spirits Bard.
I was a nomadic exorcist priest. That subclass is wonderful for a utility caster.
What's nice about Hypnotic Gaze is that it isn't really limited at all, if the creature succeeds their saving throw or the effect ends it can't be used on them again for a certain amount of time, but you can just try it again on a different creature, and you can do that over and over again at no cost, it's basically an infinite mini hypnotic pattern that requires your action to keep up but DOESN'T require your concentration!
They only need to hear you too, which means you can be invisible when you attempt it
@@kailae3269 Indeed! And because this ability is neither spell nor attack, your Invisibility doesn't end when you use Hypnotic Gaze!
@@JuckiCZ that’s kinda iffy depends on dm. I’d rule it’s an attack
@@kailae3269 It is not.
Each attack has attack roll. There are also special attacks like Grapple, Shove, but they are all described as attacks.
Hypnotic gaze is neither attack nor spell. Discussion in this matter is really difficult, because it is really clear.
It can be indeed home brewed by DM, but if we use RAW, it won’t end Invisibility spell.
Of all the videos and shorts youve done sir, this by far my favorite one. So glad you threw in the role-playing aspects of these classes as well. Because.. so many players forget that D&D IS a role-playing game.
Bravo and cheers mate!
I got to play a way of the ascendant dragon monk for 2 sessions before the OGL thing and our group switched to Pathfinder. It was a lot of fun. The breath weapon is pretty underpowered but the flavor is so cool, and there's a lot of potential for creativity with them since most of the abilities don't eat your ki.
My only complaint was the nerfs from the unearthed arcana. I don't know why they did it, the UA version was not at all unbalanced.
Honestly, sometimes we just ignore UA. Sometimes it just feels like they take the wind out of our sails, and that's no fun. Because monks are known for being super overpowered, right? /s
If you are looking for a fairly similar build in your PF2E game, consider asking your GM to allow you access to the Dragon Disciple archetype. Note that the access part of the archetype only means the way to turn the subclass into a "Common" available choice. It's just uncommon for everyone else. It will give you a good similar feel.
I actually made a character that was gonna be an Ascendant Dragon monk, but ended up never being used due to our DM cancelling the campaign for a Harry Potter Dungeon game.
I dunno if you touched on this in an earlier part of this "series", but... Way of the Shadow is like REALLY cool to play if you're multiclassing Rogue with Monk.
I love the longer videos so much. Especially when I get to see the absolute banger ad segments
Path of the beast is so sick.
Its my favorite sub class.
Agreed about enchantment wizard. Straight up my go to subclass when making a wizard.
I have a pure Enchantment Wizard! Focused on psychic powers! She's inspired by Emma Frost and has been really fun to play. Love her =^.^=
Bro that ad was actually 10000/10
I always watch your full vids including ads they are always amazing
"Do you have hypnotic gay guys back there?"
My entire group, hiding underneath the table: "He's found us."
Love the epic dramatic chops in the ad.
Love the Dragon Monk! Played one recently and had a great time, though it was only the Phandelver module, so only reached level 5 right at the end. Looking forward to a chance to continue with that character.
I wonder if there's any synergy with Path of the Beast Barbarians and Dhampirs with their bite attacks. 🤔
You have to choose
@MegaPokefan97 So do you choose the effect of the bite? What about the damage die or the modifiers?
@@DSTkunn totally depends on your DM but since they're both different attack actions despite the same name, I personally would make you choose which bite you would use. But having a Dhampir Beast Barb could be fun since you can bite then claw so if you wanna go for it then go for it.
@@ceanuceanuceanuceanuceanuc4320 Awesome, I'll have to give it a whirl sometime. 😁😁
Actually, the way the Dhampir is written, you gain the amount of piercing damage done with your bite, regardless of the source of the bite.@@ceanuceanuceanuceanuceanuc4320
My party has both a knowledge domain cleric and a divination wizard. I have prepared so many encounters that they just completely avoided or invalidated, it's great.
I'm excited for the regular content again! Here's to many more happy hours of goofy and blatantly broken d&d combos! Love your stuff Will!
I love my college of spirits bard. Whenever I use my Tales from beyond, I flavor it as an actual ghost appears and hovers around me. When used, the ghost will enter the person that receives the benefit. Makes my spooky fortune teller, medium even spookier
I shouldn’t think “hypnotic gays” is as funny as I do. 😂
Is that like a snake charmer?
Hi, I'm currently playing a half-orc Ascendant Dragon monk. What attracted me to the sub class was the martial arts cries the use when fighting. They shout out things like Biff, Kapow or Sock (I save the last one for kicks), so they are doing the verbal equivalent of the 60's Batman TV series fight scenes.
That's right, I'm playing Bat-monk!
His name is Adaam Ouest and his melee weapon is a didgeridoo which doubles as a quarterstaff. Oh, and he throws polished dragon scales like batarangs.
Finally, someone else appreciates ascendent dragon monks. I don't know why people don't use them more, as the damage selection for you unarmed attacks is great in a lot of scenarios, such as bypassing physical damage resistances or simply doubling damage against enemies that have elemental weaknesses
(also the breath attack damage increases to 3 rolls of the martial arts die at lv11)
Making a prince sell you his prized steed then forget that he did it sounds like a good way to get hunted down as a horse thief.
If someone does not now create a Hypnotic Gays spell, I will be deeply disappointed.
When people talk about good rogue subclass, three names often come up : arcane trickster, swashbuckler and soul knife. Sure, all of them are cool, but I would argue that the Phantom archetype is somewhat on the same level. It give you decent bonus in and out of combat, and is really flavorfull. One of my player wanted to play a rogue haunted by spirits, but didn't want to use spell, so I pointed him to this subclass, and he really enjoyed it so far.
For beast barbarian I have a idea for a pirate dwarf I have in mind.
He was once apart of a mighty army but had to leave or was kicked out (still working on that part of his backstory.) and he didn't know anything outside of fighting so he joined a pirates crew. He learned his way around a ship and the sea fairing ways quickly and enjoyed this new life for a time till they were attacked by adventurerers paid to get rid of them. The entire crew died and he was about to drown, exhausted and severely injured he couldn't swim any longer and his body failed him. He sank into the depths of the sea thinking this is it till he heard a voice in his head. A second chance. He made a deal with a mysterious being at the depths of the ocean and was able to live tusks to it. After recovering he eventually went back to land and swore to get revenge for his old crew but also succeed where they failed. He'll become a pirate and a mighty one, own that doesn't just steal and kill but also rule and become a legend. After making a deal with the being he would be able to shift parts of his body to help him in battle. The tail would be a tentacle and the claws, also tentacles but more then one. The bite a beak, ones octopuses have.
Also thinking of going a few levels into fathomlees warlock for the surviving part to make sense I guess but I think I'll just go straight barbarian.
Pact of the chain Warlock + Scourge aasimar... take the Gift of The Ever Living one's feat, and you gain damage buffs from scourge (while hurting yourself) but always get max heals from any spells or potions from the feat... basically buffs your glass cannon warlock, and means you can ignore any damage that doesn't insta kill you by just healing and not having to worry about rolling a 1 on your heal
If your DM lets you work in Simic Hybrid as something setting specific for a non-Ravnica game, the Path of Beast is a great way to explore being a weird body horror hero; Circle of Spore druid is also fun for leaning into that sort of 'oh gross' stuff if you get creative in describing how your spells get cast from your body and how you use spell components.
I homebrewed a plant race called the Spriggan (balanced on par with kenku or something, nothing crazy) that one of my players ran as a myconid with Circle of Spores.
Spraying spores out of his head like a Cordyceps always gave the party looks of concern.
Since the barbarian doesn't have fighting styles, they have less reservations about swapping weapons if the situation calls for it. That synergizes well with the versatility of Beast barbarian.
Low on health? Whip out a shield, battleaxe and some teeth to give you a higher AC and heal a little bit.
Need to do damage? Claws and dual wielding scimitars or hand axes can give you four attacks at level 5.
Need to hold the line? A glaive with a tail can help keep enemies away.
So glad to have these videos back.
My Path of the Beast Barb Hobgoblin has been a stomp fest with the Saving face features - love that you're giving it some more love!
Jump at sixth level is amazing. I have a ring of jumping and tavern brawler on my Tabaxi Beast totem barbarian. I grab someone with an action, double my speed to 100ft, jump into the air and drop them off where I want them for extra fall damage.
And yes, we half the speed for carrying someone, although we have sort of realised it seems a bit silly the rules don't differentiate between me dragging a Halflings or an Ogre.
Plus, it makes it easy to jump up and take flying enemies out of the sky.
After watching this video, I had an amazing idea for a ridiculously fun multi-class character. Loxodon Beast Barbarian/Drunken Master Monk. Form of the beast weapons are considered simple melee weapons, and therefore monk weapons, which means it can benefit from both rage and martial arts. The AC bonus from the tail can help compensate for reckless attack. The loxodon trunk acts as an unarmed weapon, and can be used as a snorkel while swimming, taking care of the big bonus of the first of the Bestial Soul effect, which leaves you free to use the second effect all the time, and when combined with level 9 unarmored movement means that the only thing you can't do is fly. Throw in feats like Alert to compliment Feral Instinct, Mobile because you'll be moving around a lot and the extra movement will compensate for splitting Monk levels, along with Barbarian Fast Movement, Shield Master to help with shoving and dex saves (and shields can be dropped), and Tough to compensate for splitting Barbarian levels HP. Loxodon Serenity grants advantage against being charmed or frightened, which means you're using an action to use Stillness of Mind less often, but it's there if you need. I'd say 11 levels of monk and 9 levels of Barbarian at max level, but long before that, you'll be a Rampaging Pink Elephant.
Hell yeah, Knowledge Cleric is my absolute favorite subclass to play! Good to see it getting a little acknowledgement!
I think I’m sold of playing a Knowledge Cleric next campaign. The mind-reading/auto suggestions is crazy. Good shit!
the jump of the beast barb is actually the best option of the 3. with 18 str at level 6. you can jump 3.5 ft up without a running start and rolling the d20. if you take skill expert athletics with the beast barb ability, even if you roll a 1, you can jump 10 ft up in the air which is the minimum threshold for forcing falling dmg (1d6/2) and a dc 15 dex save or fall prone to an enemy you fall on. if you roll an 11 or higher the falling dmg goes up to 2d6/2. and this is done by just consuming part of your movement. its free dmg and chance for prone.
scaling wise, at 20 str with +6 prof bonus and rolling a 20, you can jump 40 ft up for 4d6/2 falling dmg and chance for prone.
so yeah climb the top turnbuckle with your beast barb and frog splash your opponent.
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Honestly, this just cemented my love for Path of the Beast Barbarian. I never really thought of the class being that interesting (except for the Wild Magic Barbarian, which is a treat), but one of my favorite characters i ever built was a Simic Hybrid POB Barbarian/Inquisitive Rogue
The backstory was that he was a genetically engineered infantry soldier for a colony (they were all based on ants). With that build you could climb or swim whenever you wanted, attack three times per turn with the claws, plus close range sneak attack damage with Insightful Fighting (From Inquisitive).
So, at level 20, every turn this build could deal +50 pts of damage every round.
Yes, Totem Barbarians have resistance to all damage, but with a Shield and Tail up, you could reliably shrug off most hits with 0 damage and a reach attack.
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I used the knowledge domain with the OneDnD cleric. With the knowledge domain's expertise and the holy order (scholar), at lvl 15, i had a +12 in 4 skills, investigation, nature, arcana and history, it was insane
Played recently in a oneshot with my Path of The Beast Barbarian. She was a knight in some small order dedicated to destroying undead but due to overestimating her abilities, wish to show her devotion and some misfortune she was turned into a dhampire and was forced to run and hide.
Her "beast" form is basically her monstrosity form (like light version of vampire lord from Elder Scrolls) and her "class abilities" are ways to survive and thrive of her monstrous self which she learns to control.
I think it's a nice blend of class and race together :) So much pleasure to create, roleplay and fight with her :)
Three points-
Enchantment Wizards tend to use Manacles and rope to get the best out of the Gaze so having a familiar or summon that can help with that is a must. (Note that knotting the rope you familiar wrapped them in is not going to allow a reaction) also this is not concentration effect. So. It makes a great back up if you need to pick up the last enemy that saved hypnotic pattern and is still intent on hitting you to break the spell.
Knowledge domain + Soulknife means you are able to use all skills and tools and have a huge chance to be effective for 10 minutes at a time.
Dragon Monk - originally they flew until the end of your next turn but they removed that because they realized that if you can slow fall. So fly dash fly up to the silly dragon (90ft at base) stunning strike them midair. And then slow fall. Not only can they do a nice amount of damage to fliers in similar fashion regularly because KI points come back on a short rest. (They are still not at par but hey you be a monk mostly to look good :) )
Magic Domain cleric is another awesome subclass.
The spellbreaker feature at 6th level is very useful against enemy casters who have debuffed your allies.
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My brother created a Simic Hybrid Beast Barbarian in our Ravnica game where the race itself offered the ability to have animal modifications as you leveled up. I don't remember all of his abilities but i remember something giving him a gliding feature like a flying squirrel has in real life & he had these weird spider like arms (only two of them & connected to his body on his back, around where his shoulder blade's are located). I think those allowed for him to grapple someone while also clawing their eyes out with his barbarian claw weapons. Our story was about the Nephilim of Ravnica returning. (They are a one-off set of four 4-colored Magic cards that were put inside the first Ravnica set; they are weird abominations with all of this allowing the DM to truly customize their history which stated they were like the last of a forerunner race that Niv-Mizzet & a group of other older creatures such as Ilharg, the Raze-Boar, who is printed with the God creature type that locked them away after destroying the lower forms of life the Nephilim had created. Anyways, my brother was supposedly engineered by the simic, with others like himself as a warring species used to combat the Nephilim. They pretty much grew them in vats & they all had a base race, such as Vedalken/Human/Elf but the Simic had modified their DNA to be very malleable & granted their changing body parts. I remember, he was introduced to the party while we were traversing the simic compound to see if they knew the origins of the Nephilim. He had somehow been defective & was not connected to a hivemind like the other warriors & broke out of his gestation pod thing. Everything about his character was really cool & his ability to not need any sort of weapons or armor allowed for him to purchase weird gadgets that were useful to the party that were created by a crazed goblin from the Izzet League.
10/10 would play Ravnica again.
Broken Combo: Alchemist Artificer/Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Dragonborn
I’m currently playing a path of the beast barbarian, and have found that they have a great combo with longtooth shifters, as comboing your claws with your bite allows you to make 4 attacks, and since its not two weapon fighting you still add strength to damage on the bonus action bite. Furthermore, the claws only require 1 free hand to use the extra attack, so you can use a shield and still gain the full benefit of 4 attacks without requiring the two weapon fighting style to keep up in damage. Also thematically, the combo of the long tooth shifter bite attack with the barbarian claws means you’re pretty much a full on werewolf at that point, and can truly rip and tear.
way of the dragon monk + beast barb seems crazy. at level 6 you can do like 5d6 damage every turn. and you also get to climb up walls with grappled enemies with no check (id you have the bestial soul claws) and body slam them on the ground all while reducing your own falling speed with your level 4 monk feature. add the deflect missiles reaction to the damage resistance from raging and youre also almost impervious to the ranged attacks which are the only ones that can reach you if you camp out on high walls of ceilings. oh yeah, and you get to custom pick your elemental damage type aswell!
I've had a blast playing an ascendant dragon monk! Took a few levels in ranger bc the party needed someone who could handle a gun, and ended up going with the drakewarden subclass for EVEN MORE DRAGON. Having a couple spells and a familiar in battle definitely rounds out some of its weaknesses, but ascendant dragon monk is worth it for flavor and cool factor alone imo.
Multi-Subclass: Defender of the Green (Tank, Lv 9)
Moon Druid (6)/Ranger Hunter (3)
We want 12, 14, 17, 8, 15, 8 for Stats to start and take 1 Con, 1 Wis at Lv. 4
Moon Druid is mostly to get the deeper pool of Wildshape for HP sponging. Any flavour of Druid works for this, really. At Ranger 2, take Defensive Fighting for +1 AC, then at 3 take Hunter for Horde Breaker. This gives you 19 AC at Level 9, without any bonuses from armour, shield, misc., 90+ HP(+2 Combat Wild Shapes) and enough slots for AoE CC spells to drive your DM (and party) insane.
Throw in being a Warforged, the Warcaster Feat, a +3 between Armour and Shield and you've got a 23 AC, plus some nice immunities.
Ill always love ascendant dragon monk because it allows you to bonus action dash 100ft up in the air, fall onto an enemy, force a dex save or split the fall damage between the two, and you can just featherfall your side of the damage away. you can use mobile to augment that movement speed and stop them from taking opportunity attacks, use mind sliver to subtract from their saving throw, or it's also good when a party member has restrained a target with a spell.
I play a Tabaxi way of the ascendant dragon monk, the movement speed is crazy, 45 feet ATM, double that with cats grace, then I can move 180 feet using step of the wind and still attack at the end, 270 feet if I just want to run away lol; also, I found out you can use breath of the dragon as a 20 foot circle aoe if you use your spectral wings to fly 20 feet up and fire a cone directly down, really gives some avatar vibes when you pull stuff like that off
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I played a Beast Barbarian Archaeologist for Candlekeep, she wasn't optimized, but it was a game we had maybe 3 rounds of combat over 6 sessions. Nesali had 16 Int and a +11 History check.
But also, she was a barbarian... so she had tons of HP compared to the rest of the party for the rare times we had to fight.
Narratively, we decided her Beast path was a yuan-ti malison mutation.
I've also played a Dhampir Spirits Bard in some of Beth the Bard's playtests for some adventures. It's quite fun. And one of Nesali's party members was a goblin spirit bard.
Dhampir Beast Barbarian is the most fun Ive had in any D&D game. Not only do you get to make all the Morbius jokes but dropping from the ceiling with 4 reckless attack lets you out-monster the monsters. So good.
The extra cool thing about the Spirits Bard to me is that you can retain the Tale you tell until you use it or finish a rest, it doesn't require concentration or anything to keep it in mind you just keep until it's spent, I think it mitigates the randomness of the Wild Surge type classes by letting you decide how to use it. You can also roll it well before combat even begins and decide when in the day to use it. I'm kinda cheating in my game, I play a Spirit Bard that is also a ghost who doesn't need to take short or long rests so long as I don't use up all my resources, so I can just kind keep the tales for however long I want.
I’m playing a level 6 Custom Lineage Beast Barbarian, having taken Tavern Brawler and Skill Expert (for Athletics expertise) and have themed around being a professional wrestler.
The level 6 jumping option has been fantastic and so much fun to live into the bit - after attacking my target 3x with claws and then grappling them as a BA, I can *from a standing position* jump up to 20 feet into the air and come back down with them (which I flavor as a spinning pile driver) for an extra 1- to 2d6 bludgeoning damage from the fall that knocks us both prone. And then, once on the ground prone, I release the grapple to get my other half of my speed back, which I use to stand back up.
It’s the best
My vote for underrated MVP subclass goes to the Arcana Domain Cleric.
Arcane Initiate, Potent Cantrip, and Arcane Mastery are all fantastic abilities. I'll touch on those in just a sec, as they deserve their own discussion.
Spell Breaker is, surprisingly, situationally good when paired with the Identify spell. The only two things that I don't like about it are that you have to use an actual healing spell (not an ability that heals), and you can only target an ally with this ability; if one could target an enemy with it, it could be hilariously good.
I'd say that the weakest ability they have is their Arcane Abjuration Channel Divinity ability, as it only affects a creature up to a max of CR 4 by level 17, and that it only affects celestials, fey, fiends, and elementals. But being able to banish them (as per the Banishment spell), after PC level five, is certainly worth noticing for some tier 1/tier 2 fights.
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With that out of the way, I'll touch on the other abilities now.
Arcane Initiate and Potent Cantrip are really good for a Cleric, both in the early and in the mid game, depending on the two cantrips that the player chose.
One very big problem that the Cleric has to deal with in the beginning is the lack of access to an attack roll based cantrip (ex., Firebolt, Chill Touch, Ray of Frost, etc.), once the player hits mid tier 2, and Arcane Initiate cleanly fixes that problem starting at 1st level.
Potent Cantrip adds fuel to the "Arcane Initiate" fire, for obvious reasons. But it can't be under-stated, or underestimated, at all. Free damage is free damage.
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And now, Arcane Mastery...
Arcane Mastery is the ability that really seals the deal for me. Being able to take (as a Domain spell), and cast, any one 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th level spell, from the Wizard spell list, is really nothing short of amazeballs.
Here's a short list of some Wizard Spells that are eligible:
Wish
Simulacrum
Contingency
Forcecage
Psychic Scream
Plane Shift
True Sight
Teleport
Magic Jar
Clone
Demiplane
Prismatic Wall
Reverse Gravity
Disintegrate
Maze
Gate
Invulnerability
True Polymorph
Etc.
All of them, and more, become accessible with this ability, starting at PC level 17. If there's a high level Wizard-based spell combo out there that a given player wants to do, or even a high level Wizard/Cleric spell-based combo, this ability can make that happen. It's just like a Bard's "Magical Secrets" ability, albeit in a slightly limited way.
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Oddly enough, for multiclassing purposes, Druids who take a 1 level dip as an Arcana Domain Cleric also shore up a weakness of theirs, which is a lack of range on their attack roll based cantrips.
For DM's who are sticklers for flavor/rules when it comes to Druids (i.e., no using metal armor or metal shields), this 1 level dip helps them stay out of melee. This is important because Produce Flame and Magic Stone are the only two cantrips on the Druid spell list with any sort of range (60 ft. For Magic Stone, 30 ft. For Produce Flame), and a 1 level dip into Arcana Domain fixes that issue via Wizard cantrips that use your Wisdom modifier.
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The Arcana Domain actually makes me want to mechanically play a Cleric PC again, and I'm normally not that big of a fan of Clerics, due to them being "secretly" MAD (Dex. + Wis., usually), just like a Bard is (Dex. + Cha., usually). Unlike Bards, however, there aren't very many good SAD multiclass options for Clerics, and the Arcana Domain subclass makes a SAD (Wisdom-based) spellcaster competitively viable.
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Haha, oh my gosh, I don't think I ever expected to see a commissioned art piece of one of my D&D characters on a UA-cam cover! Nice! Roderick Elsworth, Knowledge Cleric and Chronurgy Wizard Extraordinaire. He was lovely fun to play. His lantern was (is?) his spell focus!
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re: the Knowledge Clerics' channel divinity, cooking meals, making disguises, or doing any kind of crafting takes longer than 10 minutes, so you can't really use this feature for that. What it _does_ come in handy for is knowing little details that only someone trained in those professions would know, giving yourself advantage or removing disadvantage on checks that some DMs might not even allow you to make otherwise. So, doing exactly what a Knowledge Cleric is meant to do.
I made a spirits bard who started with one level in death cleric for the medium armor/shield and the TotD which hits two targets. Bard focus was a skull embedded in the shield and cleric focus was an embedded symbol.
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I've got an idea for a Beast Barbarian that is based on Jekyll and Hyde. When you rage you drink a potion and take on a different beastial aspect.
01:52 excuse you, that is a picture of Damian Wayne, while we all know that nerd Batman is Tim Drake
So, something that was kinda cool my DM did. I was playing a 2nd level elven monk who was heading into the Way of the Shadow, however i ate a fish which turned me into a half-dragon, specifically Crystal Gemstone. Due to this, i went all into Dragon-based stuff, which was Ascendant Dragon Monk and Circle of the Wyrm Druid (Valda's Spire of Secret's). He actually let me use Crystal as my Ascendant Dragon and Wyrm subclass features, instead of the normal stuff which mainly gave Radiant as a damage type for me to use
I've just started playing a spirit bard after taking two levels in divination wizard. Hoping to get a Darren Brown feel to it, particularly after taking the telepathic feat to really help me get my readings accurate!
The first character I ever played was a knowledge cleric. The DM mistook him for a wizard a few time because of the high rolls in history and arcana I was getting. And that became the running joke in the party for quite some time.
For the Beast Barbarian’s jump ability, I actually think it could be the most useful if you build around it.
If you take simic hybrid for manta ray fins and grappling appendages, take magic initiate jump, expertise in athletics (to grapple), and a 2 level dip in monk for step of the wind, this is a pretty cool build.
Cast jump on yourself and rage, wait until your next turn, bonus action step of the wind and dash to your enemy, grapple them (with +11 to athletics AND advantage because of rage) and jump for (3 + 5 + 10.5 + 11) x 6 at 8th level, going on average 180 feet, doing 18d6 damage knocking them prone. YOU glide 360 feet away because of the manta ray fins, while only taking 4d6 damage plus falling prone, which won’t matter because you’re 400 feet away and your enemy is hopefully dead.
This is also a very cool thematic build, especially if you take rune fighter so you’re this awesome mutant hybrid with fins, tails and tentacles or claws, which would lead to some awesome character building. In the words of D&D shorts, ENJOY!