What do you think?
Rate this book
A Touch of Class: 7 New Classes For Your 5th Edition Game
Meet the full alchemist, cardcaster, diabolist, feywalker, morph, noble, and occultist classes for your 5E games in this 70-page book! These seven classes originally appeared in EN5ider, the 5th Edition patreon. Over time, they have been revised and updated after plenty of feedback from the community, and now they're ready to be presented as a full-colour softcover book! Each is a full class, along with archetypes; plus the collection includes a selection of supporting feats, spells, items, backgrounds, and monsters to help make the most from them.
Kindle Edition
Published March 18, 2019
1 person is currently reading
2 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 18, 2018
(Full disclosure: I was a Kickstarter backer for this. I also support EN5ider on Patreon.)
A Touch of Class is a collection of classes (and related articles) presented in ENWorld's EN5ider series. There are seven in all:
- Alchemist: A spellcasting class with a focus on bombs and potions. While I liked the class overall, they failed to clearly describe just what their spellcasting looks like, as distinguished from other classes like the wizard. (It's implied they use chemistry to generate spell effects, but I didn't see that spelled out.) They do, however, also include some cool alchemical items.
- Cardcaster: A spellcasting class that uses tarot cards. I loved the concept, but was disappointed with the execution - instead of a distinct class with flavorful powers based on each card, we get an upgraded diviner wizard with some thematic limitations. Some of the mechanics are also a bit odd, especially the King of Pentacles and its money powers. They also included a Jack of Beasts subclass, which is essentially a Pokémon trainer - fun, but it feels like it was thrown in, and doesn't feel particularly D&D.
- Diabolist: A class with fiend-related powers, clearly meant for evil characters. Honestly, it seems unnecessary when we have the warlock. They also include a section of "Conjured Horrors", but I only liked one, the tiny cacodaemon.
- Feywalker: A class with fey-related powers. Despite some neat abilities, like the "feystrike", I don't see why we need this when we have the archfey warlock. It also has the same Hit Die as the fighter, for some reason, which makes it feel like someone building a class just for their personal tastes.
- Morph: A dedicated shapeshifting class. It's OK, I suppose, but very specialized, and takes away one of the chief appeals of the druid. I also predict balance issues from the menu of shapeshifting options.
- Noble: A thinly veiled 5th Edition version of 4E's warlord. As such, it runs into the same problems 4E's warlord would have in 5E (explaining non-magical healing; the effects on combat from granting player characters extra actions; and the fact that most of the warlord's flavor and other features have been given to existing 5E options, like the battle master fighter). That all said, they do a good job of designing the class; I particularly like the Path of the Heart subclass, which reflavors them as a non-violent Disney-style princess. (Though giving them disadvantage in combat seems excessive and harsh.) I'm not sure I'd use this class, but I would understand if others did.
- Occultist: False advertising. This is built as a class, but it's not any sort of occultist - it's a way for players to be a constructed creature, a vampire, or a werebeast. These should have been presented as character race options instead.
Overall, the book is mechanically sound, but many of the class concepts seem too specialized or redundant to be used in the typical D&D game. The alchemist and noble are the best of lot, and the main reason to seek this work out; the others are just OK. Unless you're looking to create a very different campaign using a number of these classes, I would recommend signing up with EN5ider and seeking out the specific class articles you prefer, rather than buying the entire work. (B-)
A Touch of Class is a collection of classes (and related articles) presented in ENWorld's EN5ider series. There are seven in all:
- Alchemist: A spellcasting class with a focus on bombs and potions. While I liked the class overall, they failed to clearly describe just what their spellcasting looks like, as distinguished from other classes like the wizard. (It's implied they use chemistry to generate spell effects, but I didn't see that spelled out.) They do, however, also include some cool alchemical items.
- Cardcaster: A spellcasting class that uses tarot cards. I loved the concept, but was disappointed with the execution - instead of a distinct class with flavorful powers based on each card, we get an upgraded diviner wizard with some thematic limitations. Some of the mechanics are also a bit odd, especially the King of Pentacles and its money powers. They also included a Jack of Beasts subclass, which is essentially a Pokémon trainer - fun, but it feels like it was thrown in, and doesn't feel particularly D&D.
- Diabolist: A class with fiend-related powers, clearly meant for evil characters. Honestly, it seems unnecessary when we have the warlock. They also include a section of "Conjured Horrors", but I only liked one, the tiny cacodaemon.
- Feywalker: A class with fey-related powers. Despite some neat abilities, like the "feystrike", I don't see why we need this when we have the archfey warlock. It also has the same Hit Die as the fighter, for some reason, which makes it feel like someone building a class just for their personal tastes.
- Morph: A dedicated shapeshifting class. It's OK, I suppose, but very specialized, and takes away one of the chief appeals of the druid. I also predict balance issues from the menu of shapeshifting options.
- Noble: A thinly veiled 5th Edition version of 4E's warlord. As such, it runs into the same problems 4E's warlord would have in 5E (explaining non-magical healing; the effects on combat from granting player characters extra actions; and the fact that most of the warlord's flavor and other features have been given to existing 5E options, like the battle master fighter). That all said, they do a good job of designing the class; I particularly like the Path of the Heart subclass, which reflavors them as a non-violent Disney-style princess. (Though giving them disadvantage in combat seems excessive and harsh.) I'm not sure I'd use this class, but I would understand if others did.
- Occultist: False advertising. This is built as a class, but it's not any sort of occultist - it's a way for players to be a constructed creature, a vampire, or a werebeast. These should have been presented as character race options instead.
Overall, the book is mechanically sound, but many of the class concepts seem too specialized or redundant to be used in the typical D&D game. The alchemist and noble are the best of lot, and the main reason to seek this work out; the others are just OK. Unless you're looking to create a very different campaign using a number of these classes, I would recommend signing up with EN5ider and seeking out the specific class articles you prefer, rather than buying the entire work. (B-)
November 7, 2019
Great options
My Players and I are always looking for new content for role-playing. We enjoy a fusees and with our next campaign or with some new characters are probably going to be trying out a couple of them.
My Players and I are always looking for new content for role-playing. We enjoy a fusees and with our next campaign or with some new characters are probably going to be trying out a couple of them.
November 13, 2019
I really love the feywalker class ^-^
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews