Unearthed Arcana June Unearthed Arcana: Druid Shepherd, Fighter Cavalier, and Paladin of Conquest

The latest Unearthed Arcana from Mearls and Crawford revisits four subclasses from earlier UA articles. "Part of the fun of playtesting is seeing how feedback and play can push a design in new directions. In this month’s Unearthed Arcana, we revisit class material that appeared in previous installments: four subclasses for various classes, along with Eldritch Invocations for the warlock. This material was all popular, and the revisions to it were driven by feedback that thousands of you provided in surveys. The updated subclasses are the druid’s Circle of the Shepherd, the fighter’s Cavalier, the paladin’s Oath of Conquest, and the warlock’s Celestial (formerly known as the Undying Light). One of the main pieces of feedback we got about the Eldritch Invocations is that most players didn’t want them exclusive to particular Otherworldly Patron options, so we’ve opened them up to more warlocks, tweaked them, and cut the least popular ones."

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[ppaladin123]

So with the new Kiss of Mephistopheles you no longer need to be hell-pact or even choose fireball as one of your hell-pact spells to get access to fireball? That is weird/interesting/nice.

Maddening/relentless hex don't specify what "cursed by a warlock feature" means. Don't want to see DM/players fighting over this.

Improved pact blade is part feat ta/patch (your weapon should already count as a focus) and part useless in most games (you are going to find a magic weapon at some point).

 

[Valdier]

That Unicorn spirit begs for a multiclass with Life Cleric. Goodberries to heal 40 hit points, + everyone gains Druid level in hit points?

Seems pretty strong to me

Going super healing multi-class spam is strong also... Cleric 2 / Druid 2 / Bard X - for full party healing with a single spell slot

 

[phantomK9]

Love the druid. Want more spirit totems.

 

[Xethreau]

In English, they actually mean the same thing. We only have both because English borrows words like some sort of linguistic kender. Knight comes from the old English word for "servant", which makes sense in a Feudal structure. Cavalier has the same Latin origin as the Spanish "caballero".

The word "cavalier" sounds slightly more elite to English-speaking (at least American) ears. This is probably because it's Latin, not Germanic, in origin. Who knows?

Both "caballero" and "cavalier" have the root word for horse in them, meaning that these particular kinds of knights are horsemen.

 

[ppaladin123]

Both "caballero" and "cavalier" have the root word for horse in them, meaning that these particular kinds of knights are horsemen.

And chevalier --->Chivalry come from "horse" too.

 

[Gladius Legis]

I forgot to comment on the paladin! I agree with [MENTION=68748]Gladius Legis[/MENTION] about the Conquering Strike vs Conquering Presence. I don't think it makes a huge difference to be able to activate it on a successful strike.

I looked back over the Oathbreaker's Dreadful Aspect to compare, and the Oathbreaker version only lets the enemy save to end the effect early if they get 30 feet away. While this version lets the enemy save to end early regardless. So yeah, I think changing it to a mass-fearing Conquering Strike would balance it out vs. the Oathbreaker equivalent very fairly.

Scornful rebuke is cool, but I think it should probably require using your reaction, and should be minimum 1 rather than 0. But then again, given an ability of such a high level, maybe if it requires your reaction it should be a bit higher damage.

At Lv. 15 I'm OK with it being a constant effect, with the numbers as they are. At most it'll be a constant Lv. 1 Armor of Agathys damage effect, but the Conquest Paladin most likely wants STR and CHA at 20, so that's not likely to happen until very late (like Lv. 19 late). Agree minimum should be 1.

 

[Litania]

Aspect of the Moon. Me like.

Genuinely curious: what do you like about it? I cannot recall one single moment in my playing years where this would have come in handy. We always take watches in turn when the party rests.

 

[Mercule]

Both "caballero" and "cavalier" have the root word for horse in them, meaning that these particular kinds of knights are horsemen.

True, but I don't think it's a factor for most folks.

 

[Corwin]

Genuinely curious: what do you like about it? I cannot recall one single moment in my playing years where this would have come in handy. We always take watches in turn when the party rests.

Define "handy", I guess. I think it would be fun and interesting to play a character that never slept. But by the implied tone of your post, I agree, you aren't going to get the necessary advantageous mechanical benefits you are looking for from it. But then, I never said that was what I liked about the invocation.

 

[Yunru]

Improved Pact Weapon... kinda stinks.
Why, you might ask?
Because if you have a magic weapon you don't get the +1, leaving you with a very fringe benefit. Let me restate that. Any magic weapon, independent of whether it gives a bonus to attack and accuracy or not, means you don't get the +1.

Rather it should be +1 unless the magic weapon has a higher bonus.