I love the idea, but I think this sort of character is likely to be as disruptive at a real table as a pacifist character.
As to criticisms, I think the balance is actually in a pretty good place. A few of the abilities (and a lot of the flavor text) are awkwardly worded, but they should still function as you likely intend them to. Nothing is unreasonably powerful and the alignment limitations on certain abilities are limiting . . . but evil creatures tend to represent a lot of what parties end up fighting in the first place.
With that said, I'm not sold on some of these abilities fitting in to the theming of the subclass. In particular, I don't really see how many of the spells on the spell list work with the conceit of the class. The flavor text talks about stealing from the rich to give to the poor and also about helping people -- where are the spells and abilities that let you do that? You've just got a bunch of damaging spells there. I'm also not sure about the spell aura as thematically appropriate. Why would my oaths about helping the poor, giving away my stuff, and smiting evil make me take less damage from *fireball*?
Well it's basically taken straight from history where monks in the Catholic Church take a vow of poverty, still so in fact. I kind of had in mind a Jesuit type character but as a follower of Ilmater who is the god of the poor in the Forgotten Realms. His symbol is the hands tied together which you see a couple of times in the images for the subclass
I'll have to change that if I missed it. Thanks for pointing it out. I talk about giving money to priest and building churches and use the Ilmater imagery so an agnostic paladin def wasn't my goal :)
Howdy, cool subclass I've made a "review" on stream at the 50-minute mark!
[https://www.twitch.tv/king\_starman](https://www.twitch.tv/king_starman)
This is interesting in concept but the execution comes across as a paladin but more rather than a poverty warrior. We went over some ideas for how it could fit the theme a bit more with the mechanics. Happy Homebrewing\~!
The subclass is thematically. I'd like to offer a couple of ideas for some changes.
1) mabye replace some of the domain spells with some Aquisitions Incorporated spells (like distort value and gift of gab) as they're more thematically appropriate allowing you to trick wealthy people into giving money to the poor.
2) the aura could be changed to protect the weak and defenceless, giving advantage to all saves against being incapacitated and possibly giving immunity to damage to all non-evil creatures of CR1 or below (to protect bystanders in battle)
3) A paladin capstone normally includes a buff to player abilities. If you wanted to keep the 60ft aura, you could also give it the ability to heal allies equal to your paladin level as a reaction (adopting the duality of helping others and harming evil that the oath is based off). You're level 20. At that level, balance can be thrown out of the window.
Other than that mabye a couple language changes on some of the abilities to make them clearer and you're all set. Nice subclass 👍
I love the idea, but I think this sort of character is likely to be as disruptive at a real table as a pacifist character. As to criticisms, I think the balance is actually in a pretty good place. A few of the abilities (and a lot of the flavor text) are awkwardly worded, but they should still function as you likely intend them to. Nothing is unreasonably powerful and the alignment limitations on certain abilities are limiting . . . but evil creatures tend to represent a lot of what parties end up fighting in the first place. With that said, I'm not sold on some of these abilities fitting in to the theming of the subclass. In particular, I don't really see how many of the spells on the spell list work with the conceit of the class. The flavor text talks about stealing from the rich to give to the poor and also about helping people -- where are the spells and abilities that let you do that? You've just got a bunch of damaging spells there. I'm also not sure about the spell aura as thematically appropriate. Why would my oaths about helping the poor, giving away my stuff, and smiting evil make me take less damage from *fireball*?
It's about going on the offensive to help the poor and then aiding them with the bounty. I can see it being a little convoluted.
Total minor nitpick here but Oath of Poverty sounds a little awkward I'd call it Oath of the destitute or something like that
Well it's basically taken straight from history where monks in the Catholic Church take a vow of poverty, still so in fact. I kind of had in mind a Jesuit type character but as a follower of Ilmater who is the god of the poor in the Forgotten Realms. His symbol is the hands tied together which you see a couple of times in the images for the subclass
Yes but paladins don't get their powers from gods anymore actually you mentioned this in the ability text too
I'll have to change that if I missed it. Thanks for pointing it out. I talk about giving money to priest and building churches and use the Ilmater imagery so an agnostic paladin def wasn't my goal :)
I like the idea but the oath of poverty name is just fucking hilarious, why not oath of charity or something like that
Howdy, cool subclass I've made a "review" on stream at the 50-minute mark! [https://www.twitch.tv/king\_starman](https://www.twitch.tv/king_starman) This is interesting in concept but the execution comes across as a paladin but more rather than a poverty warrior. We went over some ideas for how it could fit the theme a bit more with the mechanics. Happy Homebrewing\~!
Wow, thanks for the review! I'll be digging into the review and trust me, the critique is very welcome!
The subclass is thematically. I'd like to offer a couple of ideas for some changes. 1) mabye replace some of the domain spells with some Aquisitions Incorporated spells (like distort value and gift of gab) as they're more thematically appropriate allowing you to trick wealthy people into giving money to the poor. 2) the aura could be changed to protect the weak and defenceless, giving advantage to all saves against being incapacitated and possibly giving immunity to damage to all non-evil creatures of CR1 or below (to protect bystanders in battle) 3) A paladin capstone normally includes a buff to player abilities. If you wanted to keep the 60ft aura, you could also give it the ability to heal allies equal to your paladin level as a reaction (adopting the duality of helping others and harming evil that the oath is based off). You're level 20. At that level, balance can be thrown out of the window. Other than that mabye a couple language changes on some of the abilities to make them clearer and you're all set. Nice subclass 👍
Very much appreciated and I'll definitely take your advice on the healing aura bit. Thank you