College of Tragedies feels like it was 100% written to try and get Liam to play a bard

Timestampzz 4:00 Barbarian: Path of the Juggernaut 11:31 Bard: College of Tragedy 20:29 Cleric: Blood Domain 29:46 Cleric: Moon Domain 38:44 Druid: Circle of the Blighted

I think its pronounced Tahl-door-ey. Some of the abilities such as the moon domain cleric's dual concentration or blood letting focus with magic missile or scorching ray can be really potent but they do kind of force you into a certain style of playing.

As a reminder with the barbarian, if you cancel out the advantage and disadvantage, it means you could ignore any additional sources (EG someone with pack tactics attacking you, or you attacking in an area of darkness

Definitely love Matt’s imagery and how well he drives the class fantasy with his subclasses. Mechanically speaking however, they could use a little balance work one way or the other. Thanks for the content gents!

The druid can't really create a chain of explosions that way, since the summmons are all immune to necrotic damage.

I think Chronurgy wizards are one of Matt's original creations too right? Kinda wild that he's made 2 subclasses that allow double concentration. Very strong mechanic.

As someone in a party with a tragedy bard, the usage of their BI for “gambles” (good gambles at that) is really overshadowed by the fact that they regain BI almost as quickly as they spend it. I know our table is wildly unlucky but the amount of times when he has said “ope I’ll regain a BI… shoot I’m full up already haha” is astronomical. And he isn’t stingy with BI either. I’d definitely have gone with a B but that’s just my one experience.

Id like to see Grim Hollow classes and subclasses covered. And then a deep dive into mechanics specific to grim hollow like the transformations.

My fiancé is playing a juggernaut barbarian in a party full of squishy mages and warlocks. She's been able to use the pushback feature combined with sentinel to peel for the squishies in the party and keep the baddies from getting back in melee with them

When Drakkenheim drops on D&D beyond I'd love for Jill and Joe to do a ranking with Kelly and Monty. Can't wait guys!

24:00 I love the idea of using this skill to pick up an unconscious PC, make them drink one of their potions or similar & then drop concentration to raise a fallen ally.

thank you for 5 years of DOD ❤

Resolute Stance/Reckless Attack seems slightly exploitable. Since one instance of Advantage/Disadvantage cancels out any number of the opposite, it allows you to effectively cancel any negative position in those terms. If your enemy is invisible, just use both, and you negate both their advantage and your disadvantage, with no downside for yourself.

Moon cleric double-concentrating on twin overlapping Moonbeams while a Juggernaut Barbarian and a couple of warlocks with either Repelling Blast or Grasp Of Hadar just bouncing people in and out of the moonbeam effects.

So awesome to see you covering some 3rd party stuff. I'm making a Blood Hunter & would love to hear your multiclass rankings I hope you cover the other subclasses from Crit Role stuff, like the Paladins' Oath of the Open Sea.

Honestly I *love* the College of Tragedy at lower levels. I'm playing one in a Lost Mine game and while we're still only 2nd level I'm excited to try the subclass features because of how much roleplay is baked into the subclass. Sorrowful Fate forcing creatures to utter poetic final words and Nimbus of Pathos literally turning someone into a tragic hero where the atmosphere around them changes to fit the vibe of the affected character being some hero in the process of possibly making the ultimate sacrifice.

Completely agree with the Juggernaught ranking. Not much additional damage nor best tank abilities, but the ability to move people around is very complementary with other casters and effects-- spike growth, setting up AOE (damage or otherwise) etc is great but not broken whether alone or with a group

Not related to your subclasses but I just want to say I’m a HUGE fan of your channel and am already imagining running DoD in the future ❤

I've played a College of Tragedy Bard and I actually had a lot of fun with it to be honest. I think the thing is the base Bard is such a good class and if the subclass is a bit lack luster, you've still got a good base class, but just the feel of the class is fun. Also, the 'chain explosion toads' thing won't work: your summons have immunity to necrotic damage and thus aren't harmed by the explosion.

I LOVE The Dungeon Dudes, but man do they pronounce things in an interesting way..

Always nice to see you cover 3rd party stuff, I'd be very interested in the future in seeing how you rank the Grim Hollow sublasses as well!

Its great to see you dudes checking out 3rd Party content for d&d. I'd love to see you cover stuff from Ghostfire Gaming or Kobold Press!

Bloodletting Focus + Scorching Ray? Bloodletting Focus + Magic Missile? That's a fair bit of additional damage if it adds to each ray/missile.

wow, 5 years with Dungeon Dudes KZfaq Channel has become a standard part of life now . . . and thanks for reviewing the Tal'dorei material, impressively creative thematically and easy enough to modify mechanically for game balance

Runechild feels like it would be fun to combo for Rune Forger thematically. Any way to to transmute one resource into another resource has always appealed to me as a feature. That being said, I played a multiclassed Oath of the Open Sea, and a smoke bomb per short rest is incredibly fun

Dip 2 levels on Druid for Dragon Starry Form from Stars Druids and your Moon Cleric wont lose concentration on their spells. I think that combo is pretty strong cause it comes fully online at level 8. Double moonbeam + free guiding bolts equal to prof with advantage for blessing of the moon + concentration cant be lower than 10 + thorn whip to move people inside both moonbeams. Just insane

26:03 the DM narrates your character getting punched about, blood pouring out of your nose, your gashed open forehead staining the water elemental red as it overwhelms you. " So this water elemental has my blood in it?" .... ..... GM: " what have I done?!"

Missed opportunity for an exploding toads portmanteau: Exploads.

One of the things I love about the CR subclasses is how thematic they are. They all lean into either the cinematic anime fight scene ascetic, or the edgey edge lord vibe

Juggernaut sounds like the most fun to play. I might try solely for the opportunity to steamroll a hag's minions while shouting "I'm the Juggernaut, witch!"

I think 8 crows in trees over the battlefield flying at the enemy and then exploding as they are struck… ❤️

Blighted druid is fun to play imo, but (not at that level yet) the highest level feature is pretty ass. Low temp hp for level, you have to be in an area where you take damage and are maybe near enemies (and if not, not fully utilising other features)

Bards Tragedy with minor changes and it would be awesome. 1. no reaction for return of inspiration die. Just be within x range of the Ally 2. Just have reaction + insp die to change save. 3. Like u said, If an ally within range struck by a crit, you spend reaction + insp die to make that allies next strike to be a CRIT. ( Or could be if the next attack hits will be a CRIT) I think those changes would bump it up to A tier. There still some gamble however u do, no need to double down on it

That druid be like: KILLER QUEEN HAS ALREDY TOUCH THAT FROGG

As much as I am a fan of the exploding squirrel technique, I don't think it works: the summons are immune to necrotic damage, and they deal necrotic damage when they explode, thus preventing a chain reaction. Damn you Mercer!!! 😂

Great Video! It's important to me to let you know I have been watching for a while and every video I get something out of. Sadly I started getting into playing just before 2020 didn't even get to play until it was mostly over and was still doing that online and then the whole OGL thing hit. So just getting started with TTRPGs was difficult for me. But thanks to you, Bob world builder, Critical Role, DND shorts, professor DM, Jocat and so many others I got to fill the hole not being able to play was filled. I want to thank all of you for what you do! Have a great holiday season and a great new year!

Boots of flying on a Moon cleric is sick. You could also multi class genie warlock for fly, but you would be MAD.

“This is your French onion dip”… lol! I must use that reference from now on! Thank you 😂

5:49 One more niche benefit of doing both resolute stance and reckless is that you (almost) can't be sneak attacked. Since you technically give them disadvantage, which prevents sneak attack use. 21:30 Bloodletting Focus seems very strong with Magic Missle. Each missle deal an additional 3 dmg (or more if you upcast), so now it suddenly deals (1d4+4)x3 at leaset 15dmg for a 1st lvl spell

"rain of toads" - the best thing ever said

Thanks dudes!

I think the bard class is underrated, you go wild sorcerer with good, and the bard class is the some things

Fantastic video and subclasses! A few questions/ points: Barbarian - would they no longer be impeded by Disadvantage from Invisibility/ Hiding/ Spells like Blur (assuming the space they target has a valid enemy) by taking the stance and Reckless Attack, and similarly be able to Negate any potential Advantage enemies could have against them (and features like Sneak Attack if, say, the Rogue got possessed/ Charmed?) Moon Cleric - Thematically fun concept: Moonbeam into Faerie Fire, which, incidentally, could be seen as AoE Guiding Bolt, if Faerie Fire enemies all stay within Moonbeam Range 😅

Came for the Blight Druid and left wanting to play a Moon Cleric

Explode-a-Toad doesn't work, your summons are immune to Necrotic damage.

What's squirrel for "The One True God shall drive out the many!"? Asking for a Caprican Blight Druid friend.

The wild swings between the D and S tiers sounds to me like there wasn't enough playtesting.

Blood Domain is really neat. My boy makes "friends" and asks for their blood as friendship, so he can then turn around and spy through NPCs, etc. It's fun. :D I multiclassed him with some Ghostslayer Blood Hunter so not only does he have the Blood Puppet Divinity, he has the blood puppet BH curse.

Cool to see you guys at PAX, thanks for making cool content

“I really like pushing people around” CANCELLED

Who else had no idea what a Tal’Dorei was, but clicked on the video because it’s the Dudes?

I would actually play a Path of the Juggernaut Barbarian, then multiclass into College of Tragedies Bard... Behold, it's Braggar, the Uninteresting. "Well..We'll... let's get this over with..."

So I would start off by saying I really enjoy your content and analysis. That being said, I found a common pattern where I think you always analyze classes and subclasses from an options standpoint, and your end result is always a high ranking on character that can just cover "more" basis (which is fine). However, I personally think that lowers the subclass ranking rather than increasing it. Reason being, when you are in a party with multiple PC's who can cover everything, you get a lot of overlap and people stepping on other people's toes. I always found that characters that stay in their pocket and have a theme that they stick to are always the more memorable out of the group, as such subclasses with less options and higher theme rank higher in my opinion because they focus more on their roleplay identity.

Pushing people around is incredibly powerful when you consider it can be combined with any spellcaster's damage over time aoes to allow for incredible damage. Those spells are very commonly cast at tables and getting two free shoves while doing your regular barbarian damage can really pump out crazy damage against enemies.

If a class gets an ability that increases the BI they expect to enter a combat with and another that provides a so-so and less frequently occuring use for that BI, that is still good overall. You can always use BI on normal BI stuff when the best use case (BBED scored nat 20, round 1, you're full on BI and have a Paladin ready to go) isnt there

I absolutely praise your correct pronunciation of 'niche', Kelly, I think it's the first time ever hearing a North American saying it right 😂

That blood puppet spell would be my Weekend at Bernie’s

OK, circle of the blighted (chain reaction) use the owls, send them in to swarm, ready the action to detonate them after someone attacks it. That way up until the ally makes an attack, they're giving the enemy disadvantage.

Tragedy Bard.... in our 1 shot, "I want the BBeG to make a save for xyz and it will be a charisma save" DM "Well they choose to not fail that 1 point of Legendary Resistance spent". I think as said even that gimmick is well a gimmick that only helps on things that your party should have little problems with anyway.

Lighting makes me realize that Kelly would be a hell of a silver fox

Welp, exploding toads is definitely the goal of my next DND character

I think for the College of Tragedy Bard that it stands out in the sense that you can be free to farm bardic insirpation in out of combat scenarios like roleplay or exploration. You can have multiple party members make the same roll (like for perception or athletics to cross obstacle) and farm the bardic inspiration in scenarios where even if one person fails, the group doesn't fail. I would have liked to see this more in high C or low B teir.

Moon domain cleric/ rogue sounds like it would go crazy. Moon beam and fairie fire followed by hiding and sneak attacks on following turns that you don't have to move moon beam

Its one of those stories that happened to a friend of a friend in a movie.

The blighted druid feels like a poison ivy 2.0 version build from the circle of spores

Tragedy Bard is mechanically quite weak, but you leave out the synergies between the abiltiies, +10/-10 is quite strong standalone too and can be used 1/SR (+10 to important saving throws!) or more often if you're in tough combats where you get knocked down-- which is where you'll need it to make sure your spell attack hits or you save against Disintegrate or such Really the only thing expending uses is when an enemy crits you or an ally, and you get extra inspiration back when you or an ally roll a 1.... statistically these shouldnt be too different! So overall you have more inspiration and can choose to use it when crit-- but dont have to-- not useful if on a mook who is being hit with saving throw spells or already on low health Not to mention you only get crit in combat but have a lot of opportunities to roll a 1... exploration, social interaction, etc. pillars.

I played a Red DB Juggernaut Barbarian in a year long campaign AND I LOVED HIM!! But I do believe that it was the feats and a few key items that truly made him unstoppable! I had the winged boots a +1 great axe and the ring of free action. Then I gave him the mobile&charger feats! He was a nightmare for my DM. 1st round he had 125ft of movement that could also be in flight, he could not be slowed stopped or incapacitated save death! BTW we called the reckless + "defense" stance combo "cautiously reckless" lol

This had me thinking of a jekyll and hyde barbarian subclass where your int & strength stats swap whenever you rage. Might not be the most original or powerful subclass but sounds like a lot of fun to roleplay.

I'm playing a Tragedy Bard in a campaign set in Exandria and I love it. I will say that this subclass gets more usage of its nat 1 reaction the bigger your party is (and no one playing a halfling :P). with 6 other people around, the likelihood of someone rolling a nat 1 is high and so I can give inspiration out like candy cuz I have high chances of getting them back. Bards don't really have reaction spells (unless you have silvery bards allowed) until a magical secret might give you counterspell, so it's nice to be able to use a reaction and get a useful resource back without trying to get a group to agree to a short rest. I wouldn't say it's superb, but a B instead of a C/D would be nice.

Also a bit surprised there was no mention of Warcaster or Eldritch Mind possibly canceling out disadvantage for the Moon Cleric double concentration, essentially negating that drawback.

Hexblood Blighted Druid. I have one created. Not had a chance to play yet, but excited for it.

Ending sounds like an A not an I

Reckless attacks in a resolute stance seems kind of powerful to me. Since Advantage and Disadvantage always cancel perfectly, no matter how many source of either there are, the combination would just negate any instance where you have disadvantage, or your enemies have advantage naturally. Doesn´t matter if you are constrained, or blinded, or whatever ... you just get to roll flat and make your enemies roll flat too.

Juggernaut is B tier tops, those benefits with moving people are completely reliant on your party members actually being capable of capitalizing on you moving enemies. Especially when crusher is a feat that exists that provides mostly the same benefits. Most campaigns won’t get beyond level 10 to even use the good features that the class provides.

The moon cleric seems OP but I always liked moon themes. Sehanine Moonboow, Selune and Eilistraee are 3 of my all time favorite deities in D&D.

I've really wanted you guys to do this with Grim Hollow subclasses.

Bloodletting Focus with upcasted magic missile would be insanely busted against a non-caster.

I'd like to note that reaction attacks don't trigger off of forced movement. So, a Barbarian pushing creatures around doesn't give their allies reaction attacks.

I had this on in the background and “French onion dip” stopped me in my tracks, 😅😂

Do you mean oil? NO! I mean the black blood of the earth.

Adding the Circle of the Blight's Toxic Demise to the Conjure Airstrike tech is very funny. Admittedly there's no half damage on a save for the necrotic half, but that still lets you turn a single 3rd level Conjure Animals spell into an average 125 points of single target damage (assuming a 60% chance of succeeding both the Con and Dex saves).

"Tal-Dor-eye?" Must not have ever watched Critical Role to know the pronunciation hahaha. All good honestly lol

I'm in a campaign where I am playing a blood magic wizard. And I think it's incredibly powerful. The blood channeling that let's you use up your hp rather than spell component it awesome especially the spells that consume the spell component. I can easily have a similacuram and replace it just for a new one just as easily.

Having played the Blight Druid, I can tell you that it is absolutely A tier *at least*. With teamwork, the extra damage PER TURN in the blighted ground can rack up to be massive. The little blightling summon puts in work, and having your summons become miniature grenades is, as you pointed out, hilariously good. The +2 AC and temp HP is also not to be scoffed at. +2 AC reeeeally helps out as a passive ability, and the temp HP is like a lesser but constant twilight cleric.

Man I still can't believe that Drakkenheim will be available on DnDbeyond soon! Can't wait to run around in the City of Drakkenheim. I am thinking of playing an Eladrin Tome Warlock but I want to flavor him like an Arcane Archer. No pact or patron to roleplay, just reflavor Eldritch Blast like arrows shot from a bow. I want to play an Arcane Archer so bad and the Genie subclass is just perfect to make that idea come alive. He is basically a Robin Hood, a kind of revolutionary for the people that would oppose any kind of oppression or hierarchy.

These really seem like they were not properly edited, playtested, or balanced.

Resolute Stance + Reckless also makes it so that other things that would have advantage on you no longer have advantage on you....

Resolute stance from a flank. Merge that with a taunt skill.... Pair with a melee rogue and and a spell caster with a targeted taunt spell of some kind (making you thrle lure) for some fun, especially with the zone control

That was some *S Tier* dip,

it's the ratling blast all over again.

One thing to notice is thar critical roll is a 6 man party, so effects like the bard one that charge when you roll a nat 1 are way more common than in drakkenheim with half the players

with Tragedy Bard, they should have just built the class around being powered up by failure, as it stands it feels like you're paying such a steep cost for your abilities. They could have built the core mechanic around lamenting the failure of yourself and allies to regain dice and then pontificating about the impending doom of enemies (messing with saving throws etc) to expend dice.

I cannot believe i overlooked 'sploadin toads. I cannot wait to do this

With the moon cleric, take warcaster to negate the disadvantage and 2 levels of druid to go circle of stars. Round 1, greater invisibility as your action and for your bonus action, use the dragon starry form and any roll of 9 or lower on a concentration check is treated as a 10. Round 2, moonbeam away. If it’s looking like a long battle, round 3 BA spiritual weapon and move your moonbeam around with your action. I would want resilient (con) as well as soon as I could. But being invisible and with those boosts to your concentration checks, it would be pretty hard to break your concentration.

I've been playing a circle of the blighted druid for about a year now and it's great fun, the wildshape stuff helped on lower levels, everything else is great for every level. The only thing missing would be a bonus spell list that makes some "blight themed" necrotic spells a bit more accessible. But all in all a great subclass, definitely A tier and above.

Super Excised for this as I play a Blood Wizard in Call of the Netherdeep right now

The Circle of Blight combo you guys are talking about chaining is actually similar to the strategy used with the Corpse-crafter feat in 3.5e. Negative energy healed undead in 3.5, but of they all bluw up at the same time (from a fire ball) you're doing a huge nuke. The College of Tragedy also reminds me of Dirgesinger, a Prestige Class from 3.5e.

24:49 totally until bloodied within your control healing spells also providing the help action allowing the help as welling force.

Does a flesh golem have blood? Does a vampire have blood?!