In this series, I’ll be slowly tackling a rework of one of our favorite classes, the Binder. The class was originally a straight update of the class of the same name from D&D 3.5’s Tome of Magic, including most of the original vestiges, but as we revisit this class, we’d like to examine its mechanics and its concepts with fresh eyes, improve upon them, and write a whole new list of vestiges.
Community day! I’m going to ask for help collecting as many unique mechanical focuses for vestiges as we can. Leave your suggestions in the comments!
Vestige Archetypes
Every vestige should have a definitive concept behind it, whether it’s that of an archer, a rogue, or a healer. The following archetypes are some starting points we can build entire vestiges around. [Things in brackets are included for completeness but are undecided upon.]
Miscellaneous
- HP Tank: Higher HP, some self-healing
- AC Tank: Heavy armor proficiency (should only be one or two that allows for heavy armor)
- Party Face: Social features, with perhaps some charm spells
- Skillmonkey: Specifically being proficient with lots of skills. For simplicity, other vestiges won’t generally give out skill proficiencies.
- Stealth: All the sneaking abilities. Probably also some spider-climb for mobility or some Cunning Action
- Flight: Higher level vestige. Grants wings for unlimited flight
- [Thorns Tank: Deals retributive damage to creatures which damage you. Perhaps also trade your own HP to deal additional damage?]
- [Mastermind: Knows all the languages, uses Cha for Int checks, etc.]
- [Disguise: Shapeshifting, deception, and disguises]
- Magic Items: Summons magic items
Combat Focused
- Two-Weapon Fighter: Light weapons, bonuses for hitting a target more than once
- Heavy Weapon Fighter: Heavy weapons and grow to Large size (Tilo)
- Versatile Weapon Fighter: Versatile weapons + shield proficiency
- Archery: Bows, special arrows, and ranged vision
- Unarmed Fighter: 1/3 or 1/2 monk unarmed strike damage
- Vestige Sign Fighter: Use the natural weapons from vestige signs more effectively
- Grappler: All the benefits of the Grappler feat, plus enough features to make this work
- Crowd Control: Warden’s grasp + difficult terrain stuff
- Sneak-Attack: 1/3 rogue SA damage
- Divine Strike: Higher level vestige which adds radiant or necrotic to all melee weapon attacks
- [Dervish: High-movement dance-fighter]
- [Poisoner: Adds poison damage to attacks, applies poisoned condition with a cloud of toxic gas]
- [Rager: Gains barbarian rage]
- [Corsair: Dex-based duelist — proficiency with rapiers, cutlasses, and other finesse weapons]
- [Protector: Gives you shield proficiency and lets you take hits for allies]
- [Tavern Brawler: Improvised weapons all the time]
- [Master Thrower: Ranged weapons by means of thrown objects (also, improvised weapons)]
Spellcasting
- Buff Allies: Marshal-like package (commanding allies), paladin aura-based package, or bard package
- Debuff Enemies: Witch-based. Throw in some hexes
- Illusion + Enchantment: Manipulation-based spellcasting
- Evocation: At least two vestiges at different levels based upon blasting things. A ray-based vestige works better at lower levels, while an AoE based vestige works better at higher levels.
- Necromancy: Higher-level vestige with animate dead
- Conjuration (Summoning): I’m on the fence about including this, but summoning one or two minions isn’t outside a vestige’s power set.
- Conjuration (Teleportation): Lots of misty-step (probably unlimited if you cast it as an action) and one or two dimension doors
- Healing: Some light healing abilities, either in the form of a few cure wounds castings or a pool of healing points
- [Antimage: Counterspell, dispel magic, and advantage on saving throws against spells]
- [Telekinetic/Telepathic: Pseudo-psionic abilities]
- [Divination: See into the future for precognitive effects]
Mechanics to Avoid
I’m trying to generally avoid implementing anything which gives more skill or saving throw proficiencies (excepting perhaps one vestige dedicated to that specifically) and anything which changes ability scores (though using Charisma in place of a physical score, like Strength, should be allowed) or adds flat bonuses to attack rolls. The reason for this is that changing these base statistics can be an absolute pain to keep track of, so static modifiers (like attack bonuses and skill bonuses) should be pretty much fixed no matter which vestiges you pick. Vestiges should be giving you new abilities, not forcing you to rewrite half your character’s numbers.
Additionally, there are some old mechanics, like damage reduction, that I think should be avoided.
If there’s any vestige archetypes you think we’ve missed, leave a suggestion in the comments below! Also, let me know which vestige archetypes listed above you like the most.
