Bloodrager Changelog

by Dragonshard

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Bloodrager Changelog

A Half-Caster Class by Dragonshard
Class Document:
https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MpUvO4UJ-4vONiaJuEz

Changelog

Notes about how things have changed historically for the class.

Initial Concept

Brainstormed and gathered many ideas that fit the magus thematically.

Major sources included the Pathfinder bloodrager class, D&D 5e barbarian and sorcerer classes, and other homebrews of the class.

The main goal of the class is to apply the core features of the bloodrager class to D&D 5e and balance bloodragers around the official classes. A lot of homebrews out there already feature the bloodrager as a primal path of the barbarian; some of these are quality brews. However, subclasses are very limited in scope. The purpose of making the bloodrager its own class is to allow more flexibility in tailoring the main class features to the intended flavor and mechanics of a bloodrager. In addition, this allows subclasses to be written to expand the available possibilities for those who want to play bloodragers.

Main Class

Extensive analytical balancing was performed on the class. Effective champion fighter, evocation wizard, and mercy monk builds were analyzed in single target and multi target situations. The draconic bloodrager class/subclass was then analyzed similarly and modified to bring its offensive and defensive effectiveness to the appropriate level for a "striker" type class. It's capabilities were then closely compared to the monk as an example of another striker. The bloodrager and monk were very similar with some deviation in late tier 2 where the monk is somewhat stronger defensively and slightly stronger offensively, and in late tier 1/early tier 2 where the bloodrager tends to be considerably stronger defensively.

Nerfs

  1. Eldritch Rage was temporarily changed to allow two concentration spells to be maintained; however this was changed as no other d&d class can concentrate on multiple spells and there's no compelling reason the bloodrager should be an exception. Now, only one of the spells cast with eldritch rage may be a concentration spell. There are still many good options for non-concentration type self-buff spells, like mirror image or false life, that can be used in tandem with a strong concentration spell.
  2. Intimidating Power was changed to only apply to creatures who saw the bloodrage in the last hour (originally no time limit). It seemed odd that a creature would be afraid of the bloodrager indefinitely so the limit was added. It made the ability flavorfully more interesting too as this way it seems the fear is a shorter term, more intense fear of the bloodrager's power.
  3. Regarding bloodline transformations, magic weapons were limited to only apply their magical properties to a single transformed weapon attack (e.g. one claw, bite, slam, etc.). Previously, it wasn't well defined so it could easily be interpreted that magic weapons apply to all transformation attacks which was overpowered for certain subclasses.
  4. Savage magic was nerfed to deal damage equal to 3x the spell level cast (originally 2x). On analysis, it is still almost always worthwhile to perform savage magic even after the nerf. Before the change, the benefit FAAAR outweighed the cost to perform savage magic in late tier 2 and beyond when small amounts of hp becomes less important; now it's a little closer but still a net positive for the bloodrager to cast savagely in most situations.
  5. Initially, the sorcerer spell list was suggested as a placeholder for the bloodrager spell list. It was later replaced by the actual bloodrager list which contains most of the sorcerer spells (common exceptions are psychic or mental based spells or spells that flavorfully seem to be based on clarity of mind) as well as a few spells from the paladin spell list that are appropriate for melee spell users. This is listed as a nerf because the main effect is a reduction in the spells available for bloodragers to choose from.
  6. Savage magic now only works with bloodrager spells. This was the original intention but was not written in. It would not make sense for non-bloodrager spells to be savagely cast based on the feature's flavor text.

Buffs

  1. Unyielding Blood was changed from preventing bloodrages from ending early to being able to succeed automatically one one concentration check per long rest. This was mechanically more relevant for the class and differentiated the class a little more from the barbarian. This feature is less situational now, resulting in a mild buff to the class in the end game.
  2. Sorcerous rage and eldritch rage were written to give the bloodrager more opportunities to use up their spell slots (replaced an admittedly lame feature that increased spell crit damage). Previously, bloodragers felt like they were casting spells all the time which took away from their feel as a brutal frontline fighter. Now, spell slots are used more often at the beginning of bloodrages to power-up the bloodrager, then they focus mostly on melee fighting with only a few spells cast when the situation calls for it.
  3. Bloodrage die now apply to bloodrager spells as well. When they didn't apply to spells, it felt like bloodragers were penalized for spellcasting when spells are a major part of their kit. Now, bloodragers get to use their extra die regardless of whether spells or melee attacks are used.
  4. Fierce caster was written to incentivize the bloodrager to constantly be in melee combat which fits the flavor of a raging warrior (replaced a never fully fleshed out feature about dealing more damage with spells). This new feature makes bloodragers feel more like close-combat warriors than distant spellslingers. In combination with the previous points about bloodrage die applying to spells and the addition of sorcerous and eldritch rages, the bloodrager now has a good combination of casting and melee attacks. They feel like they're 2/3 melee fighter and 1/3 magic supporting that fighting now, which satisfyingly fits the intended flavor of the class.

Draconic Subclass

Draconic bloodragers are the "default" bloodrager class with a good mix of offensive and defensive abilities. They have draconic resistance which increases their AC making them more powerful against direct (non-save based) attacks. In addition, they get an offensive breathe weapon which provides some AOE capacity without using spell slots. Their draconic form increases their AC further and adds more offensive capability.

Nerfs

  1. Dragon's Magesty only grants immunity to the draconic element when in the dragon form. Permanent immunity was too strong.
  2. Dragon's magesty was limited to once per long rest. Adding a third attack that gets to also use a bloodrage die is very strong and was overpowered when it could be used every bloodrage. In addition, constantly transforming into a dragon over and over again felt silly flavor wise, which is resolved by making it the type of feature you use only in the most dire fights when you need to pull out all the stops.
  3. Removed the awe and dread aura from the dragon's majesty feature. Before it was objectively a better version of the draconic sorcerer's draconic presence feature. Vastly increasing the damage output of the bloodrager and giving enemies a massive debuff was too powerful altogether.
  4. Dragon wings can now only activate while in a bloodrage. The feature was much stronger than the equivalent abilities of other subclasses when it allowed indefinite flight out of a bloodrage. This makes the ability an objectively weaker version of the draconic sorcerer's ability of the same name, but this is acceptable because the bloodrager turns into a dragon in other ways that the sorcerer doesn't get to.

Buffs

  1. Draconic Resistance was changed to also give the +1 bonus to AC regardless of whether or not you are wearing armor. This is a very miniscule buff as bloodragers still generally benefit more from wearing armor than using this unarmored defense. Unarmored defense is mainly flavorful anyway; armor is in almost all cases superior. The exception occurs when a bloodrager stacks dexterity instead of strength, but this causes the bloodrager to be much weaker offensively which is not made up for by the increase in unarmored AC. Overall, allowing the AC boost to always apply made the ability make more logical sense (the scales would still help defend you even if you are wearing armor) without increasing the actual effectiveness of the subclass.
  2. Breath weapon range was increased to be a 20ft. cone. This was to differentiate it a little further from the dragonborn's breath weapon and give it a small buff since it is acquired at the end of tier 2 as opposed to at character creation.
  3. Draconic resistance was changed to increase the AC bonus to 2 when bloodragers reach level 14. The bloodragers defensive capabilities were significantly lower than most classes in tier 3+, so the boost was required to close that gap in the late game.
  4. Dragon's Magesty bite attack was buffed to 1d12 (instead of 1d10) damage to make it more comparable to other subclasses level 18 abilities. Analysis revealed dragon's magesty was somewhat weaker than the other features before the change. In addition, the draconic resistance AC bonus increases to +3 while in the dragon form.
  5. Dragon wings now lasts for a minute instead of ending when rage ends. This allows more out-of-combat use of dragon wings if a barbarian wants to drop one of their rages to gain temporary flight.
  6. Dragon's breath now replaces one attack instead of taking a whole action. This makes the ability more worthwhile to use whereas it was often neglected in favor of casting spells like fireball instead. The original analysis on the strength of the ability mistakenly assumed it allowed for one weapon attack during the action, so the ability is now correctly balanced with the change.

Elemental Subclass

Elemental bloodragers are an offensively oriented subclass. They deal extra elemental damage which adds a certain amount of DPR regardless of the situation. In addition, their powerful surge is very effective in tight quarters against multiple enemies. It can be difficult to find good uses for the ability though when fights are spread out or there are few enemies making the elemental bloodrager a little weaker in those situations.

Nerfs

  1. Elemental strikes was changed to last one minute, instead of one round. To compensate, the ability has been limited to once a day. Previously, it felt unsatisfying that the elemental power only lasted one round; now it feels much better that the ability basically lasts for one combat and is activated with the bloodrage.
  2. Elemental strikes was changed to no longer apply to spells and only to melee attacks. It was awkward and illogical when a spell with a different damage type also applied the elemental damage of the bloodrager. For example, fireball that also did cold damage.
  3. The whirldwind ability gained by air bloodragers as part of primordial form was nerfed to only deal 2d8 + Cha damage (previously 3d8 + Cha). The ability did similar damage to the others gained by elemental bloodragers and needed the damage reduction since it could hit multiple targets.
  4. The whelm ability was changed to only allow one creature to be grappled at a time. That was the original intent of the ability, but wording was changed to make it rules as written.
  5. The flight ability gained by air bloodragers in energetic form was changed to last only 10 minutes (previously no time limit) and recharge on short rests. The ability was by far the most effective out of the four and needed a nerf to more closely match.

Buffs

  1. Elemental strikes is now able to be used twice per long rest beginning at level 14. At higher levels, when more bloodrages are available per long rest, the elemental strikes feature felt less powerful since they can only be used in 1 out of 5 or 6 bloodrages. Allowing it twice fixed this problem and gave the subclass a needed buff for late tier 3+.
  2. Energetic form now allows water bloodragers the ability to breath underwater. Without underwater breathing, water bloodragers get a very underwhelming ability compared to the others.
  3. Primordial form was buffed to allow closer control of whom your abilities hit. Previously, whirlwind and fire form affected allies when they were used, but now only affect creatures of your choice or hostile creatures. This fine control represents a higher degree of elemental mastery that the bloodrager has attained by 18th level.
  4. Primordial form abilities that take actions now replace one melee attack. Previously, these abilities were somewhat underwhelming as they could only be used if you gave up two melee attacks in their place. Now, that they only replace one melee attack, they are far more worthwhile to use.
  5. Elemental Surge now replaces one attack instead of taking a whole action. This makes the ability more worthwhile to use whereas it was often neglected in favor of casting spells like fireball instead. The original analysis on the strength of the ability mistakenly assumed it allowed for one weapon attack during the action, so the ability is now correctly balanced with the change.

Fey Subclass

Fey bloodragers are masters of debilitating foes and reducing their effectiveness. Though they do not deal as much direct damage with their features as other subclasses may, the ability to automatically inflict charmed or frightened on hit enemies without a save is powerful. In addition, raging overgrowth can turn the tide of certain engagements with dangerous but low strength-stat enemies. The fey bloodrager also benefits from fighting multiple weaker opponents as they get more opportunities to use fey trickery and raging overgrowth can affect more foes. On the other hand, they are less effective against fewer, stronger enemies.

Nerfs

  1. The fey trickery ability can only be used once on any given creature (at least until 24 hours passes). This fixed the issue of permanently giving an enemy disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls while the bloodrager was able to attack.
  2. Raging overgrowth no longer works on flying enemies because it wouldn't make sense otherwise to grow plants in mid-air.
  3. Sylvan rage was far too powerful. The ability was overhauled to no longer add extra psychic damage on hits. The entrance effect also only applies when sylvan blood is used, so creatures are immune for 24 hours after being affected. Additionally, the effect is automatically applied on hits (no save). However, the effects of confusion were changed to allow a wisdom save whenever their turn begins. On a failure, a confused creature does nothing on their turn; on a success, the confusion ends. This gives roughly a 50% chance of successfully performing an action when confused instead of the 20% from before.
  4. Creatures that are immune to being charmed are immune to sylvan rage's confusion effect.

Buffs

  1. The sylvan blood feature now grants advantage to recognizing illusions as well. Many illusion spells allow investigation checks to recognize the illusion and don't have any saving throw involved, so this change allows the feature to be more applicable to illusions in general.

Abyssal Subclass

The abyssal bloodrager is very offensively focused. Their horrific claws grant them additional opportunities to deal their bloodrager die and strength modifier as damage each round. In addition, their demonic aura makes them very good casters at close range, able to more easily debilitate or damage their enemies with spells. Overall, the demonic bloodrager is very strong offensively, and is incentivized to be in close range even more than other bloodragers; however, it lacks defensive features making it a little squishy compared to the other subclasses.

Nerfs

  1. The horrifying claws feature only activates during bloodrages now. The ability was very strong, especially for tier 1, when it could activate at any time.

Buffs

  1. Abyssal resistance now offers resistance to poison in addition to the chosen demonic element. Previously the feature was weak compared to the equivalent abilities of the other subclasses, so poison resistance (which many fiends have) was added.
  2. The horrific claws feature was buffed to deal 1d8 + Str damage regardless of level. The abyssal bloodrager was a bit underwhelming compared to the other subclasses especially in tiers 1-2, so this change was implemented to slightly increase offense for those tiers.

Celestial Subclass

Celestial bloodragers are primarily defensive. Their sanguine radiance provides protection every time they bloodrage reducing the damage they take throughout the day. In addition, their sacred aura provides strong protection against certain enemy types. This makes the celestial bloodrager exceptionally tanky against those enemy types, but a little lackluster (at least compared to other subclasses) when those enemies aren't present. However, their angelic form granting all allies protection from good and evil is enormously effective against those enemy types.

Nerfs

  1. So far nothing, the class was surprisingly well balanced from the beginning.

Buffs

  1. No buffs needed yet. The subclass is very strong defensively but lacking offensively compared to the other subclasses. All in all, the overall effectiveness is about where it should be. Specifically, compared to the draconic bloodrager, its defensive capabilities are 11% higher on average; on the other hand, the draconic bloodrager's offensive capabilities are also 11% higher than the celestial's.

Undead Subclass

Undead bloodragers have two powerful, primarily-defensive combat abilities. Lifedrain serves to provide the bloodrager with a small but steady source of healing throughout the day, while deathly omens has a chance to completely prevent enemies' attacks for a round. This makes the undead bloodrager one of the tankiest options. In late game, their undead form becomes immune to nonmagical damage making the class even tankier in the extreme end-game. They have no features to deal additional damage however (other than getting advantage with deathly omens) making their damage a little weaker than others.

Nerfs

  1. Deathly Omens requires an action now. The ability is very strong already, being able to perform it for free when you bloodrage was excessive. Now, using the ability means you do not attack with your weapon that round.
  2. Lifedrain can now only be applied once per round. This makes the ability scale only slightly with extra attack (two opportunities to successfully hit, allowing a heal when at least one does) whereas previously extra attack directly doubled its effectiveness in tiers 2+.

Buffs

  1. Removed the maximum hit point reduction effect from the lifedrain feature. The feature was primarily flavorful which was not a problem, but in practice, it added an extra thing for a DM to track in every encounter without actually changing the mechanics of the fight since enemies rarely heal. Instead, it was replaced with a "chill touch-like" healing prevention which is technically stronger but does not require tracking max hp for enemies.
  2. Harbinger of undeath now creates specters instead of zombies, but the specters cannot be recreated if they die. Zombies did such low damage that during tier 4, enemies generally just ignored the couple of points of damage they dealt each round. Specters do a more appropriate level of damage.

Arcane Subclass

The arcane bloodrager is the only subclass without transformation-based features. Mechanically this doesn't have a large effect but it's interesting to note nonetheless. Overall, the arcane bloodrager is very strong defensively against magic effects thanks to their arcane sanctuary feature. In addition, their spellcasting in general is stronger than the other subclasses due to the unchained power feature. In short, arcane bloodragers are exceptional against spellcasters and other magic-attack performing enemies and good against groups of enemies with upcast AOE or multi-target spells. However, against threats that don't rely on magical attacks (especially attacks that require saving throws), arcane bloodragers can be underwhelming.

Nerfs

  1. The arcane sanctuary power originally gave permanent advantage on saves against all magical spells/effects regardless of whether or not they were bloodraging. This was extremely powerful early game, but almost worthless end-game. The ability was changed to allow one failed saving throw against a magic spell/effect to become a success per short rest.
  2. Originally, the unchained power feature gave extra spell slots. This feature took away from the feel of a bloodrager as they were incentivized to be more of a caster than melee fighter. The feature was then changed to increase the power of each spell cast instead of giving more opportunities to cast spells; this allows the bloodrager to still focus on being a melee fighter while also giving the subclass the feel of having an increased connection to the arcane.
  3. Caster Bane at first allowed arcane bloodragers to activate an antimagic field every time they bloodraged. This was extremely overpowered even for 18th level, since it effectively gave the class six level 8 spell slots as a half-caster. It also had the issue of preventing the bloodrager from using a major portion of their kit: spells. The ability was changed to be used once per long rest and, in return, the bloodrager is still able to cast their own spells while in it. Overall, it's still a powerful endgame ability, like the corresponding abilities in the other subclasses, but no longer broken and spammable.
  4. Unchained power temporarily had a clause that said the savage magic dealt damage to the bloodrager based on the original level of the spell before upcasting it with the unchained power feature. This was removed mostly because it was needlessly clunky. Now, savage magic works exactly as written when it interacts with unchained power: if you cast a spell at a higher level and cast savagely, you take more damage.

Buffs

  1. Spell flexibility used to give two spells from any class list at level 6. This was changed to give one spell at level 6, level 10, and level 14 for 3 spells total. Originally, the arcane bloodrager would get two level 1 or 2 spells at level 6 and that was it; the ability felt very underwhelming since higher level spells were not able to be selected, so the change was made to allow a level 3 and level 4 spell to be selected if desired at higher levels.
  2. Originally arcane travel allowed the bloodrager to misty step whenever a spell was cast while bloodraging. This led to weird uses in combat that both bogged combat down unnecessarily while also often being useless to the bloodrager (since you usually don't need to reposition over and over agian). The ability was changed to be more useful out of combat by allowing misty step to be cast with any level spell slot (now level 1 slots can be used for misty step) which allows the ability to be used somewhat liberally compared to other spells. In addition, arcane bloodragers can now misty step for free when they first bloodrage which feels thematically cool to have them magical teleport into the midst of combat and start fighting.

Overall Improvements/Successes

  1. The class's offensive and defensive capabilities now sit in the appropriate region for a striker class. Specifically, the bloodrager has very similar capabilities as the monk (another striker class). Offensively, the bloodrager is slightly weaker than a monk in tiers 1-2, but stronger in tiers 3+. Defensively, bloodragers start stronger in tier 1, are surpassed by monks in tier 2, pull into the lead again at the beginning of tier 3, but are ultimately passed by the monks in late tier 3 and beyond. Overall, the differences are relatively small and the class has been shown to be balanced.
  2. Bloodragers now feel like they're primarily close-combat berserkers that supplement their fighting with magic. Features like fierce caster, and sorcerous/eldritch rage help the bloodrager use spells without getting in the way of their melee fighting. This contributes to bloodragers being able to use their full kit, including spell slots, without feeling like other parts of the kit are being ignored or underutilized.
  3. Self-target spells can often be ignored in favor of offensive or control based spells. The bloodrager, due to their core class features (like fierce caster, sorcerous rage, unyielding blood) can use self buffing spells very effectively. In short, bloodragers fill a unique niche as self-buff spell users during their bloodrages.
  4. Official half-caster/half-martial classes (paladins and rangers, artificers don't count here because they're not really half-martial) often have poor blending of the magical and martial parts of their kits. Rangers usually have to chose either martial or magic at any given time; paladins are better due to divine smite, but this is a somewhat uninspired blending of magic and martial by dropping spell slots just to do some extra damage. Bloodragers, fortunately, do not suffer the same problem.

Current Goals

  1. Ensure that the less quantitative bloodrager features and abilities have no strange/unintended interactions with other classes/abilities/enemies. This will take time and playtesting.
  2. Determine if the class features and flavor are consistent and satisfying. In other words, the class should feel like a brutal close-combat berserker supplemented with innate power when actually played.
  3. Determine how the class FEELS in terms of strength. While the class has been analytically shown to be appropriately strong in all tiers of gameplay, it is also important that the class is not perceived as too strong or too weak. Either issue has different challenges involved; for example, the class may be unsatisfying if certain abilities don't feel very useful despite being technically balanced. On the other hand, if the class seems overpowered, it may be subject to house rule nerfs that make the class functionally weaker than it should.

Issues to Think About

  1. At early levels, before features like fierce caster and sorcerous rage, the bloodrager does have to neglect melee when they cast spells. This is especially significant at levels 5 & 6 because each spell cast means two melee attacks are not performed. This forces the bloodrager to use their spells either out of combat more (not likely since bloodrager spell selection is very limited) or focus on bonus action/reaction spells. This isn't a huge deal since at lower levels, the bloodrager doesn't have a ton of spell slots. At level 7+, this ceases to be an issue.