u/testiclekid

Emphasis on "a familiar can't attack but it can take other actions as normal".

Pact of the chain gives you the ability to renounce or command to give specific action in a specific timeframe like renounce my attack so they can attack.

Reading at this it doesn't seem they can do attacks of opportunity from my glance because they're not given the command to do so.

Can you confirm this?

Listen. I gotta be honest. If they really want us to use Vampiric Touch, they just gotta buff the spell. Simple as that.

Grave Cleric has that as well. Thematic? Not even that I would argue, since the steward of dead is not about leeching life. What is thematic for Grave Cleric is spirit guardians and that's a better spell to be fair.

They tried to jam it inside Undead Warlock and people rightfully complained because we never use it. So we got Summon Undead instead, which is healthier.

I believe many of us wanted to use Animate Dead on other classes.

You may be replying that animate dead is a problematic spell and I tend to agree BUT it's the thematic necromancy spell after all. Vampiric Touch is just ass.

If you wanna be contrarian just for the hell of it, at least use the spell. Cause right now it's just easier to cast anything else like Blur or Mirror Image and spam a cantrip instead if you're really dead set on Survivability

Listen, let's be real, Vampiric Touch is just even worse than Flame Blade and people still are not using Flame Blade not even on Sorcerer.

I understand that this way you can use Vampiric Touch on Sorcerer and attack with advantage. Is it better ? A tiny bit for sure but to be fair not even Bladesingers are using Vampiric Touch

Listen , if you really wanna give out temporary hp, there is Heroism and with a third level you can target 3 creatures. Still people are not using third level Heroism

3d6 is just 10.5 damage average which in turn is 5 temporary hp. Heroism at that level would give out at least 4 but it's on 3 targets and it doesn't require to land a hit in order to refresh it. Is your bard upcasting heroism? No it isn't unless you wanna Fear protection, which is strong.

My point is that Vampiric comes at a level where the base damage of the spell is not really that much better than a cantrip and the 5 on average temporary hp are not worth a third level spell when there are better protections.

Vampiric touch to be fair doesn't need huge buffs to be playable, just a tiny amount to make it worth your while.

I firmly believe people take this feat mainly for Raise Dead on who can't cast it.

basically title

Edit:

Thanks everyone. You've been extremely fast. I didn't expect such fast replies.

My first thought went this way:

• Sorcerers don't really need Warcaster
• that means they can afford other feats
• the Adept feats are good to be fair
• for the Magic Initiate Upgrade I would for
• Wizard > Find Familiar
• General Feat > Battle Familiar

That way you have a pseudo Spiritual Weapon that isn't concentration and lasts 1 hour and can be used alongside other spells

Many 2nd good level spells are already Wizard like Web and Suggestion. We don't know if Suggestion is gonna be on Enchantment Adept yet

On Druid you have Pass Without Trace but I have a strong suspicious that if you really want that you're going wood elf anyway instead and save a feat

On Cleric I see Prayer of Healing which can be nice in specific parties and specific fast paced campaigns.

Shoot out your suggestions and combinations

We're going for a modless run because it's my first full run. He's gonna wait me so that I do all the dialogue option because he wants me to enjoy the game. However he also desires the thrills of playing together. We started it last year and it kinda worked, but then I had to stop for a bunch of reasons. Previously we did only a tiny percent of act 1 ( we arrived at the druid's grove and that's it).

He wants to run a Bladesinger. What should I run? normally in games I like to play a healer but I'm not sure if I should go Life Cleric or Star Druid or even something else. Are there any good healer builds? Which characters do we absolutely need in the party?

Also is it worth it to play as an existing character? Are there any benefits/downsides to it? I heard that Astarion is good for melee but I dunno how and why. I dunno the full plot.

Back in 3.5 errata were a big thing. People had to be wary of errata simply because they would change important stuff. However back in the day some features were added and reworked old rules so that you could also buy the new book and have the changes within the new book. I remember for example the Polymorph subschool from 3.5, which wasn't present in the core ones but was added later on in additional supplements.

Now coming back to 5.5 the biggest errata was the change to Conjure Minor Elementals. ( I tend to agree on this latter change because otherwise it could have been problematic if not tackled). Everyone mentioned Conjure Minor Elementals having too much scaling.

When it comes to addressing some possible problems of features or classes, would the additional supplement be the preferred method of addressing those problems? We saw this on the Tasha's Ranger as obvious example.

Do you personally expect future book to come by and address what you think may be some problems within the current rules? Would that be the preferred method in this case, instead of relying on Errata?

We saw Transmutation Adept. We can guess what the other spell school's feats are gonna be like.

What are your expectations? Do you think they're gonna release an Evocation Adept with Fireball and the like?

If they're gonna relase the Animate Dead on Necromancy Adept, you could be finally take that on a Dance Bard and be the NECRODANCER.

I think these feats are fun. I mean they're not as obvious as Warcaster but I think they allow for specific additional caster flavours. They're really cool. I honestly can't wait.

I know many who can't wait to be able to cast Fireball on a Stars Druid. Why stop here, you can choose it on any caster who doesn't have it.

Did you feel compelled to go Lore Bard just for Fireball? Worry not, this feats comes in your aid so you can choose other subclasses.

Worth mentioning. In the PHB'24 there is no enchantment 3rd level spell among the Wizard list. This would mean they're gonna add at least something in the new book that can be used instead, in that feat.

I'm not sure if it's supposed to work this way on multiple ray spells.

I've been using spell fire flare. They way I've been doing this on a VTT Is that I roll attack and damage individually. Then I loot at all the damage rolls across all beams. Then I choose the lowest rolls to empower equal to my Charisma. The lowest across all beams and I empower those.

Basically can you choose to Empower and how to Empower after having rolled all the damage and then select which low results of all beams to empower?

I pre-ordered Arcana Unleashed physical and Digital on the European Store. In short the order is placed but the payment isn't processed. I did login on Paypal and the Order seems confirmed on the Wizard of the Coast site but I didn't receive any confirmation of the purchase from Paypal side and I still have the same amount of money so the payment didn't go through. On the order placed on the website it says Waiting Merchant Action. I placed the order on Tuesday and it's Sunday now so it's weird that this payment hasn't been processed. It doesn't say that he payment was declined or canceled, only waiting merchant action. I could place the order ID but would rather send it in private to a staff member. I did place a ticket already on the customer support with the screenshot of the Order ID and other details. Ticket was received by the site.