First off, thank you for checking out the channel! My name's Steven/HeartBreaker and I'm just a gamer who thoroughly enjoys interacting with people, so I figured this was the place to be!
Sleep+Portent is overpowered. Unless the enemy has a legendary resistance, any encounter can be made trivial with a few good portents and a wizard with the alert feat
The only think I'm disappointed in is Sleep. I like the strategic opportunities of being able to guarantee to put low level enemies to sleep, or damage a higher level enemy to the point where they can be put to sleep. It was one of the coolest ways to non-lethally defeat enemies as a spellcaster. I've always disliked spells with saving throws in general and I don't think we need more of them.
One lets you put to sleep a large group of low level/low hp creatures. The other has much more potential on anything. Definitely to different use cases I think Thanks for the comment!
Personally the best thing about the sleep spell for me was the hit points mechanic avoiding saving throws. Especially it now being wisdom (which is usually popular as the second highest stat for creatures, along with dexterity) makes the spell kind of disappointing. Also, this makes it hard to use this spell as a non-lethal option for casters (lowering a person’s hp and then casting sleep). Probably going to just use the old version
They're definitely in the realm of two very different use cases. One lets you put to sleep a large group of low level/low hp creatures. The other has much more potential on anything. Thanks for the comment!
Question. I haven't seen it in print yet (obviously), but some of the reviewers who have seen Witch Bolt said the bonus action 1d12's aren't attacks (they're automatic) and they don't scale - only the initial damage does. Can you confirm which is true? :)
I'm seeing True Strike as a strong option for a combat character without Extra Attack (which it doesn't stack with). I think the sweet spot is on 1) a Whispers Bard, where the damage stacks with Psychic Blades. Possibly also taking a level of Paladin for a serious Smiter, and 2) on a Warden Druid taking it as a Wisdom Cantrip through Magical Initiate, where it would combine with Shillelagh in melee or with a good bow for missiles.
witchbolt and chromatic orb are my favorites, can't wait to go through all the spells and test them! also loved bladeward, true strike and magic weapon i also think Poison Spray is a very solid choice for a cantrip now
Soooo Sharpshooter they basically drop the damage and gave you the Close Quarters buff from crossbow expert... Okay fine, one less feat for my archers I guess but way less damage... gonna see a lot more dips into rogue for sneak attack I guess
@@LevelUpmmo Two words. Valor Bard. You take 2 levels of Warlock for Eldritch Blast and Agonizing Blast. Then, once you hit level 10 in Bard, you get Magical Secrets, allowing you to take from the Wizard, Druid, and Cleric list. CME is a Wizard and Druid spell. You grab that right at level 10. When you upcast CME, it gets 2d8 FOR EACH LEVEL ABOVE 4TH! So at this level, casting it as a 5th level spell does 4d8 per "attack". Not melee attack, just attack. So anything that makes an attack roll. So... Valor Bard can replace one of their attacks with a cantrip. See where I'm going? Have CME up, use the Attack Action to attack once with a Halberd or whatever, then replace your second attack with 3 rays of eldritch blast. That's a total of 4 attack rolls. that's 16d8 of extra damage from one 5th level spell, that's concentration up to 10 minutes. Additionally, by taking two levels of Fighter, you get Action surge and can do it all again. Normally this shouldn't work, because you can't take the Magic Action with Action Surge. But Valor Bard's extra attack gets around this. So, double that to 32d8 of damage extra in one turn. And this isn't even assuming PAM for the bonus action attack, or then even dual wielding for the Nick weapon mastery for even MORE attacks. 32d8 is just the bare minimum. It's INSANE.
That is certainly one point of view! I wonder if it was a matter of "speed" to remove that decision making *OR* if it was that people REALLY dislike missing and it caused more people to miss?
so RAW, if Daylight ends up becoming an Emanation spell, you could theoretically cast it on a creature with sunlight sensitivity and it wouldn't actually get the debuff since the point of origin is not considered part of the area of effect?
From my point of view, it's a nerf early on and a buff later on. It's also a buff against tougher enemies with huge ACs. Beside the level scaling, I think it's pretty huge early on but as levels progress is becomes much, much better
The important aspect of this change is not if it makes the ability able to deal more or less damage over a given amount of time. Total Damage will be dependent on the build. The important part of this change is that it makes the ability objectively more boring. It has removed the need to think about taking the penalty or not. Changing the game to encourage LESS thinking will never be a good change. Secondly, the change has VASTLY increased the Homogeneity of combat, instead of getting the large dopamine spike from the +10, or the harsh pang of disappointment from whiffing, now a Player with this feat just adds a small, flat number to all their attacks, which won't make as much of a feelable difference. Proficiency is gonna be like, 3 or 4 for most players, an extra three damage is barely noticeable. It may or may not be a mechanical nerf, but it's certainly a nerf to fun.
Great weapon master/sharpshooter are far weaker for martials as it used to provide a reward to increased accuracy, like the barbarians reckless attack. Sharpshooter allows attacks within 5ft when it used to be the best damage boost a ranged weapon user could get. Counterspell still deproved monsters of non-spell slot spell abilities, or players from theor free castings of spells - but it does feel far les spowerful now, which is good because its no longer a "must-have" and provides space for people to take other spells.
@@LevelUpmmo the problem with the always is that it's too small until you're into tier 4 gameplay. Most people don't go past proficiency bonus 4 and therefore the extra damage has been halved. There's no reward for being super accurate anymore - you either hit or you don't. The "power attack" was a way to reward players who had actively tried to improve their chances to land a hit.
Hey all - I made a mistake! My brain was thinking of crossbow expert and not sharpshooter when I talked about the long range feature vs. the close range one. So I’m sorry for any confusion!
Why are you disappointed with most of the new stuff? I feel like it's almost all steps in the right direction / solving issues people had with the 2014 version.
@@LevelUpmmo the ranger, paladin smite, dwarves getting "stream lined". How they are handling species and background in general. edit : So much just seems half hearted or already done by them or the community. I havent gotten my hands on the books to go through and read yet im sure it will play fine but im just not super enthusiastic.
The counterspell text is a huuuuge buff to the sorcerer class in my opinion... They are the only caster class that have natural Const ST, while other classes will have to spend a full talent in order to do the save with prof, sorcerers will always be one talent ahead
@@LevelUpmmo I think that they are awere of this, but even so... this is such an inpact in the game that i feel like my wizzard player will not appreciate this haahahahahaha
I'm actually intrigued to see how other abilities work around this, given that I thought warcaster would just be even more mandatory, but warcaster only gives you advantage on con saves to maintain concentration which wouldn't apply here....
The Sharpshooter worries me a bit. Under the new rule it will be possible to get Advantage on an attack at Long Range. Especially handy for a Sneak Attack.
I would like to see Greater Invisibility get buffed so that upcasting it lets you target multiple creatures. Especially in response to the Twinned Spell metamagic getting nerfed. The 2014 Greater Invisibility is not twinnable at all with the 2024 Twinned Spell. So im hoping Greater Invisibility gets that edit to make up for it.
Nah, leave fireball alone. Fire is a highly resisted damage type. You can only get that many enemies every once in a while if enemies are grouped up, and you have to be careful to not hurt yourself or your party, and also watch out for damage to your surroundings. Also, half damage on a dex saving throw and bosses can use a legendary action to automatically succeed on those, dealing an average of 12 damage per target that succeeds the throw. It's a great spell when you have the opportunity and the resources and not fighting enemies resistant to fire. That's a lot of ifs that the fighter classes don't have to worry about turn after turn as they hit multiple times.
I don't think Fireball is unbalanced. OK, it can clear minions, but in a fifth level party's major fight the damage, at 28 with a Dex save for half, is not too bad. Compare the 5th Level Fighter using Action Surge and attacking 4 times with a Longsword. The attacks are doing 1d8 plus Str Bonus (and likely +1 for a magic weapon). That's 38 damage if all four attacks hit, and much better than Fireballing the Boss. Or a Paladin attacking twice for 1d8, plus Str bonus, and a magic weapon for 9.5 damage per hit, plus 3d8 for each that is boosted by a second-level Smite. That's 44 damage to the Boss if both attacks hit under 2014 rules (but only 31.5 under 2024 because only one Smite per turn).
Ok, examples: Summoning a castle has a clear Limit so it cant be made with Magial Items. Its an little Riddiculous if your 8th lvl Spell uses Whish scrolls as Wallpaper or has a Library of permanent Statboosting books. Sure no sane DM will allow that, but in the actual Rules doesnt say its forbidden. 2nd Example: All summoned creatures cannot cast Spells of a higher Spellevel than the Summoning itself. I also would like to have clarification about a Person transformed into a Djinn beeing able to grant whishes or not. 3rd: Planeshift should only bring you to the same Location of the other Plane, and not to the Destination. Spellevel might get reduced for that, but simply removing the need to Travel all together takes a lot away from adventuring. And of course 4th: No more Simulakrum loophole. Yes its funny to trick the System, but everyong knows about it by now. Finally, forced movement extradmg by for example pushing one through a wall of Fire gets a hard once per Turn limit. I actually think that already exists, but if so, some contentcreators didnt get the Memo.
There's nothing wrong with fireball. It is far down the list of spells that need to be toned down. It doesn't really scale all that well and is hardly a power gamer play. Things like Hypnotic Pattern and Fear are far more devastating. Shield could stand to be toned down a bit first as well. Then you have the higher level Forcecage, Simulacrum, etc. Sleep and Web, while not game breakers, could use a bit of a redesign. Especially Sleep & Color Spray's hit point limitation mechanic, that probably needs to go away. I would make shield grant half cover (+2 to AC & Dex saves), then three quarters cover when cast at level 3+ (+5 to AC & Dex Saves). As far as spells that need to buffed or redesigned in some way, that list is too long to enumerate.
Well they're apparently buffing a TON of spells in order to make them more viable and help provide some variety. If you take away the HP mechanic, you then run into a far more likely situation where a spellcaster is putting high level creatures to sleep at mass. Unfortunately, shield is not changing and will continue to be absolutely nuts.
@@LevelUpmmo While the HP limits (and previous editions Hit Dice) where put in place to avoid exactly what you are suggesting, but I think experience has shown that this mechanic does not work well. These spells tend to run out of steam very fast and have limited application, but are absolutely "I win" buttons for when the situation does come up. The higher Power Word Spells are also examples of why it needs to change. Either the enemy is under the HP threshold and you win, or they are not and you lost a valuable spell resource. At least with Sleep & Color Spray at very low levels you can be sure that your spell will apply in many situations. You make sleep a single target spell that only effects a single humanoid target with a Con save. Could you potentially put out the BBEG with just this spell? Possibly, but highly unlikely with things like legendary resistance and such. I've heard that Shield is untouched, which is unfortunate. It is just to good for dippers and feat takers.
Good to know that compatibility is sort of straight forward, but nothing is stopping anyone from completely ignoring the new book if they don't want to. Idk if or how better 2024 is. If it solves crucial issues then it might be worth taking a look at
No nerfs, buff the bad spells One I would change is HM. Hunter's Mark should increase the added damage either as you level (like Eldritch blast) or if you upcast it. AND IT SHOULD BE FUCKING FREE UNLIMITED CASTINGS FOR RANGERS
It's interesting because it seems like everyone is very aware that after a certain level, spellcasters are WAY better than martial, but nobody wants any nerfs haha. They are buffing a lot of the spells that never got used though, so there will be more variety.
I think Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade shouldn’t be restricted to five feet. Luckily, my DM also thinks that this rule sucks and I can use my Bugbear Rouge/Ranger with a whip and still be able to cast Booming Blade. I can see War Caster Cleric, Warlock, Paladin or Fighter also taking advantage of the extra spell range to include within your character’s melee range. Drake Warden Ranger with some melee spells would definitely be a ton of fun. Regardless, I think melee spells should include within your character’s melee range.
That's interesting. I know one of my players uses booming blade with a hex and so whenever someone they hit moves, they take 2d8. It's...miserable as a DM haha
😂😂😂 Casters have Sleep at level 1. No more humanoid encounters at 1, sorry. Level 3 is Web. Level 5 is FB There is no level where arcane Casters don't "control" the game. That is their "stick" and its easier to work around it. Just give your players a "heads up" during Session 0
My only real concern is how DND Beyond is going to handle things. DND is meant to be customizable to the individual campaign, and I'm worried that DND Beyond won't let you change it so you can use 2014 options instead of their 2024 version, and instead force that change on you. But then if the subclass is only available from purchasing the book then you just lose your subclass completely, and stuff like that.
Hm, that is interesting. I wonder how that implementation will work. If you're playing a 2014 version of the game...does something like DnD Beyond still let you or is it moved up to only 2024. It wouldn't mean D&D isn't backwards compatible, but that DnD Beyond isn't. That's a solid question.
I feel the need to say the half races are not gone because "they just felt like it didn't need to be in there". Jeremy himself spoke on this and is quoted as saying “Frankly, we are not comfortable, and haven’t been for years with any of the options that start with ‘half’…The half construction is inherently racist so we simply aren’t going to include it in the new Player’s Handbook" so take that quote as you will
In the interviews he said because they already had the full things in there and the half-races were still available to use from 2014 if people wanted to. So maybe it was just a different answer.
@@LevelUpmmo interesting. They must be walking back that original reasoning a bit. Just know this was not an attack against you at all just an informative insight it has been a little while since that reasoning was put out there.
@@LevelUpmmo The "half-" being racist in itself thing is preposterous nonsense. By their logic, they should remove half-lifgs too. :/ "they already had the full things in there and the half-races were still available to use from 2014 if people wanted to" this statement of theirs is disingenuos, because they are going to stop printing and selling the 2014 books.
Huh... that explains why it's always so much fun to watch Taliesin's reactions to everyone else at the table! He and Travis are just both so much fun to watch and I often find myself watching for one of their reactions rather than looking at the person who is talking. I'll have to watch the TechRaptor interview but considering the fact I'm a few episodes behind (last one I saw was their live show at the Greek), I'll probably wait until I'm a bit more caught up!
Yep -- that's one of his best qualities that I enjoy! That's a good call! There is SOME discussion of the current side-arc they're on with the gods, so it may contain some spoiler-ish stuff.
If they were… Then they apparently didn’t do a good job of it because they literally set up a media tour where they made this the main topic across three interviews.
@@LevelUpmmo Yeah, they didn't, and that's their fault. I could probably have done their marketing strategy better by just thinking about what players really wanted to know for 5 seconds. But content creators should know better and amplify that pertinent information before being explicitly told.
I just don't personally like any changes I have seen revealed so far. The races changed to species, changes to character creation. Clerics got an early boost now everyone gets stuff at lower levels feels like taking the difficulty down too far. Gonna stick with 2014 but to each his own.
WotC is a terrible company. They hate that they failed to monitize 3rd party crap for their own profit and they hate their consumer base for not allowing it. Continue the fucking boycott
A quick counterpoint: The Ranger "rework" is a removal of flavour abilities, "adding" Tasha's abilities as core (at higher levels), and trying to make it out like a "free" Hunter's Mark is brokenly OP and getting a boost from 1d6 to 1d10 at level 20 is something to be happy about. I haven't followed everything very closely, I only watched the ranger because that was going to spell out this refresh for me. Which basically boils down to, we actually have no idea what we are doing with the game anymore. Is it a scam in the sense of you're being told to buy the same product twice? No. Is it a scam because the changes that are being paraded as substantial are actually just tweaks taken out of pre-existing books (Mainly Tasha's) and being sold as new? Yes. Is it a scam because we have had zero previews of the DMG (The book that has the most complaints) or the Monster Manual, while pre-orders are for all 3 books? Yes. Is it a scam to pay full price $60 for a book (PHB) that is only 50% (at most) new content? Very much yes. Compare 5.5 to 3.5 and you're feeling like you're getting scammed like no tomorrow.
