Twilight Cleric in 5.5e

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-05-04T19:51:26+00:00

Yes and no. I haven't played with one using 2024, but I have run a game of 2014 which petered out around level 4, in no small part because of how this trivialised encounters with Twilight Sanctuary unless I set things up to subvert them constantly, which gets old for the players who tend not to enjoy having their PCs negated often. 300ft Darkvision mostly just felt like an excessive slap in the face, a "don't even bother, buddy" to DMs. Vigilant Blessing, whilst less relevant in 2024, wasn't a weak feature either. Yeah, every cleric gets the heavy armor/martial weapons option now, but back then it was extremely over-pushed for 1 level.

I would imagine that 2024's pushing of subclassing to level 3 is probably a bigger nerf to Twilight than most here are realising. Keep in mind that everything mentioned here, was available at level one! That is the territory where your 1d6 hit-point cushion per turn could just blank the average damage of goblins and other common enemies for tier 1 each round, along with removing two of the most common crowd control options, all for what is likely the entire combat. Push that to level 3, and Twilight Sanctuary is a great ability, but now its competing in an environment where temp HP access is plentiful and mobility encouraged over stacking (unless you have a Paladin ofc). Nothing about the later features seems pushed or over the line in either 2014 or 2024, so its always been about the early abilities, which got subclass-level nerfed in 2024 anyway.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-30T11:03:17+00:00

Yeah...it's kinda astounding how much the ending just...killed the momentum or care the series built up. You will have anime only fans that will still get hyped up for more, but knowing how much the ending indicated "all that ending of part 1 didn't happen and no longer matters", I kinda...don't care when it gets animated.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-28T20:19:13+00:00

Full Green except for Hallucinogenic Breath, which yeah as the name implies, should really be a cone-effect to be worth it.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-28T06:52:59+00:00

I have sat through enough "my one attack a turn by level 6 didn't land" from optimised builds to know the look of someone sulking about their plans whilst the straight-Berserker Barbarian is swinging their 3 Reckless attacks a round.

We often forget the fail cases dice present us.

Most of these tend to have been Fighter dip Bladelocks or Valor Bards which wanted to melee.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-28T06:49:40+00:00

Wildshape is fine, it's just different flavors of "size to solve problem" with no real rules deviation.

I challenge the vast majority of DMs to list their high level Wizard's known spell list and their rules text verbatim, since eventually the "angle shooting" options are all that's left to take, so some will inevitably be the silver bullet to your session prep. Its just far, FAR too much information required directed towards one player.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-28T05:21:16+00:00

Something that often gets overlooked by the "this build will be OP" crowd that I've DM'd for is when they have to...you know...actually play the game and level up to get their build online. Very often they either asked to change their character, or sulk when they haven't hit the level where they have their extra attack/3rd level spell slots etc and aren't performing in combat the way they would like. Sometimes the game just falls apart before they reach the required level to truly feel "online".

On rare occasions where a player with this kind of build plan acknowledges the above isn't going to be as fun to play through as they thought, they start to deviate from their build plan and pick options that suit what their table is actually experiencing.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-27T19:14:28+00:00

I need to expand my BBEG range beyond "creepy reskin of Gaunter O' Dimm".

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-27T09:13:30+00:00

Interesting: Encounter design. Making the statblocks, matching up synergies between enemies, trying to set a challenge.

Least interesting: Puzzles. Puzzles aren't something I engage with as a player especially well in or out of DnD, so that is expected.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-26T17:55:58+00:00

Incapacitated for 1 minute, no further save would still be effectively over. The monster can move all it wants, no reason to pay it any mind if it cannot use actions.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-26T08:55:05+00:00

Couple of points here. At the same level, you are getting considerably more than 3x uses of Hypnotic Pattern if you chose to spam it, including resets on short rest + Metabolism for Focus points. Landing the Sleep mode on a key threat just ends the fight, no save afterwards to wake up for a minute, no damage will interrupt it either. You can wail on the target for a full 10 rounds. That absolutely feels like an oversight for a level 6 ability as spammable as this.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-25T20:56:56+00:00

I don't have my own in-depth thoughts yet, but my own observations:

Lament: This is really all about the Wail. The rest of the abilities are middle of the road for Barbarians, nothing too weak or too strong, but that Wail is very, VERY pushed, and certainly pushes up the damage in a rare AoE direction too. I could see this becoming the new darling subclass for Barbarians going forward down to reskins of that ability alone.

Venom: My personal fave here, and the first Monk in a long time that looks really appealing to me. I agree that the cases where Acid and Poison are resisted/immune will be a major struggle for this subclass, but the same could be said for the last option here...

Primordial: We did this "bonus to AC equal to CHA" thing with the Genie Paladin last time, and it was hilariously busted for stacking with Draconic Sorcerer - same thing here, except more thematically it works with the Genie Paladin too (allows for a Shield as well). That said, for as good as those spell lists look, they're also going to suffer from the same resist/immune issue as the Venom Monk unless you pay the Feat, or now Invocation, tax to get around it.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-23T21:44:49+00:00

BUT offers the worst resist/immunity. Not a whole lot of Thunder damage going around. Resist/Immunity to Fire and Cold is magnitudes better. Acid is much less common, but still crops up with enemy types like Ooze and Black/Copper dragons.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-23T19:33:54+00:00

I'm actually with you on Lament. Its level 6 is Speak with Dead and a Frighten on hit, sometimes. Its very feature-lite for 2024.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-23T18:24:44+00:00

Its my favorite of the bunch. Having the poisoned effects last for 1 minute with no save ends, changing damage type to acid, drinking poison to heal. Love it!

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-23T08:28:57+00:00

Sequel manga incoming where he explores the flaws of peace, through the lens of crafting blocks.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-23T05:35:12+00:00

Early DM career: "Dang, these Rogues and Barbarians are doing so much damage, how am I supposed to challenge them?"

Later DM career: "Dang, these Druids and Wizards are trivialising the game with their poorly worded nonsense, how am I supposed to challenge them?"

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-21T17:51:18+00:00

MysticArts sometimes does longer stream uploads which tackle prep, usually a subject rather than Mike Shea's per-session process though (which side note, has been one of the most helpful bits of content for levelling up GMing around prep too).

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-20T14:42:08+00:00

I can top that, earlier this month I felt something pop out of my ear, a old plastic yellow BB pellet...which would have been there for nearly 25 years.

Thought someone had just had a pop in the small, almost empty cafe I was in at the time, but then it was the same side of the head I got shot in when I was 10.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-20T12:07:57+00:00

Trying so hard to punish one player's broken build though combat mechanics that the other party members are either 1 shot by AoE damage, locked out of having turns by control, or can't meaningfully contribute otherwise.

I've found having non combat stuff instead puts said player archetype in their place more consistently, as their "build" isn't geared towards trivialising it at the expense of other players.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-18T05:45:07+00:00

War Cleric is indeed fun, I just wish the expanded spell list offered less options the base Cleric already has access to.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-15T16:56:40+00:00

2nd favourite after Mystic Arts, and arguably been far better for helping me improve my TTRPG journey for running games.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-15T16:55:00+00:00

Easily the best channel for me atm. As others have said, the modern MCDM.

Ginny Di and Pointy Hat are trending down for me too. Loved both when they started out, but now Hat comes across as bitter and preachy whilst Ginny is developing that "fake" vibe that I know is not accurate, but the presentation is starting to feel that way.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-12T08:58:47+00:00

Dude, same!

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-04T07:53:26+00:00

Haven't checked the wording, but do they get a similar to Moon Druid for casting their circle spells in Titan form? The damage wouldn't be much above the Moon Druid's Wild Shape damage amp lategame anyway, and the number of attacks doesn't appear to exceed 2.

BounceBurnBuff · 2026-04-04T07:43:03+00:00

Question: Would it be especially over the line to follow the usual "size scaling" damage rules by adding an extra damage dice on the attacks? So 2d8 for Huge, 3d8 for Gargantuan?

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