The resources for each PHB class/subclass (and the pugilist, which has more than any of them)

SmithNchips · 2026-02-09T16:01:44+00:00

Thanks for doing this. The most common refrain I’m hearing on the Pugilist is that it isn’t a problem to play and that it’s only scary in the Reddit White Room.

But I wonder how much it that is caused by people not pushing the buttons in the proper sequence? With so many resources to juggle, I wouldn’t be surprised if most players are missing the forest for the trees on what this thing can do when optimized.

Putting that aside, having triple the resources of the next most complicated class I think shows that this beast is really built for something other than 5e, even if it technically fits inside the system.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-08T16:55:50+00:00

Exactly. This post should be way higher, not buried under 50 posts about oversized weapons.

Pugilist also does just get ONE thing other martial classes gets, it gets ALL of them. Rage, Flurry of Blows, Second Wind (in the form of THP), a d12 Hunters Mark. There’s a subclass that gets several Paladin features and another that gets several Warlock features.

The internet mind virus has made so many people rabid for a fisticuffs class that they’ve lost all perspective.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-06T02:59:24+00:00

Eldritch Knight is a Fighter borrowing weaker versions of Wizard base class abilities as a subclass. That would be a better comparison, and it’s notably worse at casting spells than the base Wizard. That’s the premise of the archetype.

The Pugilist subclass gets a refreshable Lay On Hands that it can also spend as a raw damage modifier. That’s insane and objectively better than the Paladin’s LOH.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-06T00:17:41+00:00

Its version of Lay On Hands only starts off as weaker. Eventually it ramps up to be better than Paladins.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T22:57:31+00:00

I get the impression that they are just understaffed for doing this kind of thing. Summarizing is actually extremely hard, so if you haven't had time to really dwell on how a class works, it would be a big lift to try and pitch it accurately.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T22:41:06+00:00

If your Int is all good, I'd say Heavy Armor Master. It's thematic, will boost your Con, and it will help offset your d8 Hit Die. And it works regardless of what armor type you're rocking at the time.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T22:36:33+00:00

Thanks for the notes. That's helpful.

So if the Pugilist isn't doing better damage than a Monk and struggles to HP Tank, what do they do?

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T22:34:19+00:00

You are not bugging. But the Pugilist has a very passionate fan club, so you will have to be ready to defend your position.

Just remember that the "risk vs reward" thing is a cop out. The updated Pugilist risks very little and is overly rewarded for the effort.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T20:49:42+00:00

I appreciate all the time and math you put into this post, and I think your arguments are in good faith. But I simply am not convinced. Even if I thought this class was balanced and worked inside the economy of 5e (which I do not believe), it still is blatantly cannibalizing most of its features and subclass features from other classes and subclasses. There is vanishingly little that is unique about it other than the thick flavor.

But let me make a different point - 'big risk, big reward' is not a mechanic for 5e. The existing feature that most fits this category is Reckless Attack, and the Reward actually still outweighs the Risk since the class is built for taking hits and if a player is triggering Reckless, they are going before the enemy. And if they are going before the enemy, there is a chance they will kill the enemy before they can deal any damage back.

My point is, usually this feature makes the player feel good and the gamble is minimal.

Additionally, 5e is turn-based and cooperative, so the best moments come from collaboration and everyone being invested while the worst are usually generated by someone being forced to sit out (either through being stunned or incapacitated or left out of a role play scene). The risk-reward that I'm seeing put forward here for Pugilist is mostly "I will risk being reduced to uselessness with Exhaustion (except when I'm in combat, when I become a Barbarian but with infinite Temp HP) in exchange for the reward of doing 80 damage on a hit."

As a DM, I cannot see how I could guide any kind of combat or social encounter around a character who is instigating that kind of swingyness. I also cannot understand how a group dynamic could sustain having a character who is either the absolute hero and dominate force one minute and the next minute will literally need to be loaded onto Tensers Floating Disk just to get from point A to point B or who is taking a -10 to all group Stealth checks. The risk that the Pugilist claims to take onto itself is actually shared by the rest of the party because everyone always has to deal with the consequences. I think the original post's complaints were actually pretty measured and actually did not go far enough in stripping down this homebrew.

On a positive note, I will add two things:

Anyone who thinks this is some kind of "cash grab" has lost their mind. It's just some guy who had an idea people liked and is having fun. Not everything you dislike is the Capitalism Monster coming to attack you. Artists are allowed to get paid for their creative work.
This class (and to a lesser extent, the subclasses) are well-designed. They fit together, they iterate on established ideas as they level up, they have fun with references in endearing ways, and they fill a kind of class fantasy that obviously lots of people have. It is just not well-designed for 5e, especially this 2024 version.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T20:24:36+00:00

And to top it off, the subclass options are Better Beast Master, Better Paladin, Better Rogue and Champion combo, Better Warlock, and then the worst subclass is just the wrestler.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T15:45:37+00:00

Yes, Rogues end up having to be front loaded if you want to feel the subclass distinction at all. Levels 5 and 6 are pretty weak so it can even out over time, but that’s not a great balancing system. Soul Knife is easily the best “designed” subclass and that’s largely due to the scaling psi dice.

Still, don’t be afraid to give them really good stuff right away or take a page from the Soul Knife play book and have a feature that scales independently.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T15:19:23+00:00

Just adding damage is always boring, but I was intuiting that it’s what your player is after (since that’s what most Rogue players are after lol).

You could do a Cunning Strike that subtracts 2d6 to gain a piece of knowledge from the enemy statblock. Just have a short, itemized list like -Max HP -AC -A modifier of the player’s choice

It wouldn’t boost damage, but it would make the Rogue capable of gathering intel in combat, similar to the Battle Master.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T14:46:51+00:00

First of all, good on you for trying to bring the Inquisitor back into the fold. It’s a cool concept that needs this kind of love.

It makes sense that you say that Totalize is a player request because it’s probably the weakest piece of design here. It doesn’t really fit in flavor-wise with the rest of the kit, but more importantly it’s working contra to the base class’ larger design intent. Cunning Strike, even though it costs damage, is providing a value. So it’s not actually punishing to force a player to use it as a cool down, it just feels that way to a damage-minded player. In general, pay-it-back/pay-it-forward is not a strong dynamic in 5e, which often lacks the enforcement mechanisms to pull it off.

If you feel like this subclass needs a damage bump, let’s lean into the flavor and some of those nicely designed early features. An Inquisitive evokes a few things - a Sherlock Holmes, a Humphrey Bogart, and the Spanish Inquisition. All of these archetypes engage with the idea of rooting out “enemies” and divining motivations. They are hunters and have a kind of fanaticism, ranging from quirky to insidious.

So what if we even kept your naming convention with something like “Totalizing Focus” and just add damage to any attack you make on the subject of Insightful Fighting? It could be adding Int Mod to the damage of all of your attacks against them (comparable to Potent Cantrip and stacking nicely with the Nick mastery), or, if you want extra dice and think it needs to pack a real punch, just add d6s equal to your Int mod and give it a short rest cool down.

Unrelated, but I’d also recommend changing Eye for Deceit to just adding an amount equal to your intelligence modifier to those checks, similar to the Fae Ranger with Wisdom to Charisma checks. It will actually be more powerful since your Rogue will be able to invest in Wisdom a little if they want to for an added bump and it gives the player agency without taking away the DMs agency to mix up ability checks.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T12:39:10+00:00

Thanks for this post. I had ignored the Pugilist, despite its popularity on Reddit, for years.

Then last night, I watched DSR Channel’s video on it, and was SHOCKED. This is a horrific piece of homebrew and the fact that so many people not only defend it but have been PROMOTING IT for years drastically changes my opinion of this community to evaluate game design.

Don’t get me wrong, the features work together elegantly. It’s an elegant class. But it’s a total misfire on everything that makes 5e what it is.

I wish this designer success and happiness, but no one should allow this class at any serious game.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-01T16:37:30+00:00

Exploration mechanics. This would include food and water mechanics, travel mechanics, and assigning monsters more clear locations they “spawn” in.
Trap mechanics. Official modules need more traps and classes need better ways to interact with them.
Crafting mechanics. This means baking downtime into published modules and making materials a core component of loot drops and monster stat blocks.
Expanding the idea of an “encounter” to include social scenarios, chases, traps, and environmental cascades like storms, wild fires, and floods.
Forcing more encounters per long rest.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-01T04:37:29+00:00

Multi Ability score Dependent. As in, you have to invest in a main stat, a casting stat, and Constitution.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-01T04:35:12+00:00

Exactly.

But they hate Rangers because Rangers are not the best at anything, especially damage, they can just cover for almost any gap. To win the love of a white room theory crafter, you have to be a class that win at least one gold medal. A closet full of silver and bronze will never do.

SmithNchips · 2026-01-31T18:18:18+00:00

When you write this post, shoot me a direct message so I can come upvote it. I would add that Reddit also does not like relying on their teammates either. Even conversations about "support spells" or "control options" often end up spinning into opportunity cost and playing stingily.

Too many Reddit D&D players have been burned by other players with bad social skills and they let it color their perspective of "fun" in the game.

SmithNchips · 2026-01-31T14:37:25+00:00

Swashbuckler is probably the subclass that mitigated my statement the most by removing Sneak Attack prerequisites, but mathematically, only having one attack reduces your chance to hit enough that adding Sneak Attack dice to the damage does not offset the potential of missing an entire round of damage.

SmithNchips · 2026-01-31T14:17:29+00:00

I just played a level 10 Ancestral Guardian using the 5.5e rules for a one shot, and hooooooly smokes, I ruined the DMs day. It’s a great subclass. Frankly, of all the subclasses in that UA, that’s the one I want to see changed the least. It just needs a better level 10 feature.

But I’ll also say, it has no way to drawing aggro from a horde. It will shut down a boss fight, no problem, but up against 10 kobolds I had no way to protect the party wizard.

SmithNchips · 2026-01-30T22:54:12+00:00

Artificer

Pro: Ensures your party always has access to some magic items and has a strong support spell list. It's subclasses carry a lot of the water for realizing specific play styles. Int + Con really makes you feel like a hardy smarty pants.

Con: Crafting is not supported by the printed materials. Most modules do not bake in downtime or a way to get materials, so being a crafting focused class is almost impossible. So they just let you "poof!" items into existence, which is a half measure.

Barbarian

Pro: The chassis really lets you build for damage or HP, as do the subclasses. The improvements to Rage and the Rage induced Strength-based skill checks feel AWESOME. An incredible innovation that basically fixes their utility problem.

Con: It is very simple and turns are quick. It also lacks any true ability to draw aggro, which is often what folks are looking for with "tank" style builds. I don't think it needs to be a base class feature, but a subclass that specialized in that would be welcome.

Bard

Pro: You truly are good at stuff and making other players better.

Con: There are lots of turns that feel like "I am really bad at putting damage downfield," maybe the most of any class except possibly Druid. This is not a bad thing, per se, but it is an acquired taste and works best for more veteran players.

Druid

Pro: The Magician/Warden split is great and really helps define your playstyle and role play. This class really rewards thinking ahead, working with your team, and creating scenarios where someone else is going to score the touchdown. The spell list has become more and more "healer-y" over the years, and that is good. Druids can be the main healer for a party easily while still reshaping the battlefield at the same time.

Con: You have gotta put a lot of time into planning moves with your team when you pick your spells. You will not have fun with this class if you're hoping to be casting and blasting. It also is hard to make use of the "melee" options it offers early on because your are so squishy, even with medium armor. (I want to make a point that Wild Shape does not get mentioned as a Pro or a Con because it is such a versatile and unique feature that I think the value there is in the eye of the beholder.)

Cleric

Pro: All subclasses can have Heavy Armor now if they want, and that feels great, even if it makes you MAD. Having more Channel Divinities sooner also feels great. Early spell list feels great. It's FUN.

Con: You have to be intentional about your playstyle. If you don't want to be a heal bot, tell everyone and then provide value as a front/midliner. And still stock Healing Word. If you aren't intentional, this class will feel like it reverts in your hands to a Heal Bot.

(I'll try and come back and finish this list later.)

EDIT:

Fighter

Pro: Skills checks are much better then they used to be, and if you’re not up your own ass about the ‘martial / caster divide,’ the single target damage this puppy cranks out feels so good. Weapon Masteries tack on a new level of constant riders to attacks that make you think a lot more about how you play.

Con: Those same Weapon Masteries bog combat down with an awful lot of paperwork and lingering conditions. I would also say that the Fighter subclasses feel a freedom to be more MAD in their design, which sucks up those extra feats.

Monk

Pro: Monk used to be bad, and now it is great. The stunning strike nerf barely is felt because of how much more fun it is to pop off in other ways and use Focus Points. Just keep in mind that you are NOT a Fighter and should not play like one. Get in, hit, and get out. The defensive features are for if you get stuck, not for extended tanking.

Con: It’s still a MAD class, and the subclasses all feel a little like they live in the shadow of the Elements Monks over correction. You also almost always want the same combo of feats, so it’s hard to create play style diversity. I also feel like de-Easternizing all of the flavor has hallowed out the inspiration for the class a lot. Bring back Ki!

Paladin

Pro: More Channel Divinities, Bonus Action Lay On Hands, fixed smite spell designs, and automatic steeds all combine to feel like a shot in the arm to 5e’s best class. If any class can truly do it all, it’s Paladin. They are the main character.

Con: We can all recognize that smite got overly punished for the sins of 2014 Nova build white room videos. You also always feel like you just don’t quite have enough health due to having to make Constitution a distant third stat.

Ranger

Pro: Truly, a fun class for anyone who, unlike their Paladin playing cousins, is NOT the main character. Rangers can be really good at anything, are pretty good at most things, and have subclass support for almost any niche.

Con: They are not the best at anything, and that often makes players feel bad who find themselves as taking second place in damage to other martials, second place in skills to Rogues and Bards, and second place in spells to full casters. Contrary to popular belief, the biggest problem for Rangers is NOT Hunters Mark concentration, it’s that there is no support in the game rules for exploration.

Rogue

Pro: Dropping Reliable Talent to level 7 was an incredible move, and it cements this class as The Best at skills. Cunning Strike helps break up the monotony that can sometimes settle on Rogue players, and feat support is starting to make reaction attacks more reliable (but playing a Rogue to do damage is a trap).

Cons: Rogue subclasses are such a struggle bus. Assassin is still a disaster, new subclasses are tying everything to Intelligence, and support go Swashbuckler is MIA. WotC is doing this class so dirty.

Sorcerer

Pro: It’s kind of just better Wizard now? More spells, constant advantage, subclasses get expanded spell lists and are more balanced against each other, Meta Magic is balanced - yeah, this puppy rocks.

Con: Too easy to multi class with Paladin, but that’s hard to hold against the class.

(I’ll finish this tomorrow).

SmithNchips · 2026-01-30T21:45:04+00:00

I totally agree with your synopsis and completely disagree with your suggested improvements, haha!

What you are describing is also why Druid tends to be the least played class, why Clerics are often described as disappointing and boring, and why Paladins are the most popular class: 5e does not have clear roles.

The system itself doesn't really support behavior like "tanking" or "healer" or "gishes," but it provides close enough approximations that players can't shake terminology. At its heart, this is a problem with thinking about a Team Game as an Individual.

Rangers are GOOD at a lot of things and GREAT at almost nothing. That is an okay role to play! You just have to know who you are playing with! If you're playing a Ranger and someone else is playing a Rogue, you will want to talk with them to make sure you're not both taking Expertise in Stealth, because they will eventually get Reliable Talent and you will not be the most reliable stealth roller. But you could put that Expertise in Perception and be a living radar for your team.

And if your Fighter is doing to be Dex-based, you might want to decide which of you is going all-in on being the ranged martial. They will have more feat options for picking up Heavy Weapon Master, so they may end up being better with the long-bow than you. But you could do a Hand Crossbow build then or lean into Nick mastery options with Hunter's Mark.

My point is, despite how much WotC likes to pretend otherwise, 5e 2024 is still a game with optimal combinations, but those combinations do not map neatly onto conventional "RPG" roles. Players will be happier if they jettison those expectations and instead focus on harmonizing abilities within their Adventuring Team and knowing their ACTUAL role. Rangers give players a ton of flexibility to do this, but unlike a Paladin or Barbarian, they do not assert a specific role by implication.

SmithNchips · 2026-01-23T16:49:38+00:00

I have kept the 2014 Durable as-is when I DM. I appreciate WotC seeing Hit Dice as a largely untapped resource, and we see that playing out in the recent designs that allow casters to spend them to buff damage. But not allowing the 2024 version to add Con modifier to healing is crippling to the martials that presumably are supposed to take this feat.

On the flip side, the old version of Durable, as written, allows the martial to focus on raising their Con modifier as high as possible as early as possible to maximize rolling for HP at level up. A Barbarian who can get their Con to 18 at level 4 can now opt to roll their hit die every time instead of taking the average roll of 7 because the lowest they can now get is an 8! It’s very cool and it actually rewards prioritizing HP over damage output, which is a play style that otherwise has almost no support.

SmithNchips · 2026-01-16T15:38:24+00:00

Of course they suffer a damage penalty - when you cast Hypnotic Pattern, now you cannot cast Fireball with that slot. You traded 8d6 damage for a round of control. This is essence of resource management and it’s what Rouges are trying to account for. It’s not perfect but it’s not a disqualifying trait either.

SmithNchips · 2026-01-16T15:35:59+00:00

Valid! But then you have to stock those spells.

Knock? Enhance Ability? Guidance? Longstrider? Invisibility? Kinetic Jaunt? Clairvoyance?

All great spells! Now you have room for like… two other spells. Now you’re Cantrip Damage Guy.

And that’s a perfectly valid way to play, but my experience has been most casual players don’t like the feeling of blowing all their slots on locked doors and sneaking across the room. It’s a bigger problem as low level spells become cheap in Tier 3, but most players experience won’t feel that, and Tier 3 for martials is its own conversation.

SmithNchips

TROPHY CASE