Oath of Brilliance

[round dock]

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/No-i7KQ7DNZz

Can I get opinions on this subclass themed around light, revealing things and finding the truth.

• How is the 15th level feature? Should it be more defensive?
• How is the capstone transformation?

[turbid linden]

Aura may not be strictly too weak (though on the lower end of power IMO) but the range upgrade definitely feels like it

Might be better to put the anti-surprise somewhere else (replacing the second channel divinity ? It feels strangely looty, while no-surprise does fit two of the tenets IMO) and give a more combat-oriented aura where allowing your party to spread is worth more

[round dock]

The range is the standard 10 that upgrades to 30.

[round dock]

Doesn't putting it into a CD really help? You'd end up proactively activating an ability that might be used reactively.

[turbid linden]

I know the range upgrade is standard but doesn't help that most of the usefulness IMO is in the anti-surprise effect, but your party will easily fit into that aura when traveling anyway, the extra range isn't a huge boon

As to putting it into a CD, it could be you being immune to surprise + able to CD as a reaction to remove surprise from your party

[round dock]

Made some new changes:

• Changed the Aura to be advantage on Initiative and Blinding.
• Changed the 15th level feature from giving yourself darkvision and blindsense, to a more reactive feature.

Got some questions:

• How is the 15th level feature? Should it be more defensive?
• How is the capstone transformation?

[rugged owl]

The 15th lacks a range. It also is kinda awkward since when a creature tries to take the Hide action (what I assume you are referring to), they are unseen. Its fine in combat, but do you just know when someone you dont know is around is trying to hide from you?

[heady dust]

jotting notes as i see them

Oath Spells

• mostly fitting, but oath spells don't include cantrips (that's what the fighting style is for)

Channel Divinity

• some strange wording on Reveal Magic Secrets:
• "perceive" typo
• what does "magic borne on objects they can see within 30 feet of them" mean?
• ability checks with skills are listed like Intelligence (Investigation) check, or Wisdom (Perception) check
• pretty metagamey. you ask your DM "is there a hidden X somewhere around" and they have to answer yes or no so you know if you have advantage or not, but you already know they're there by you having advantage. just remove the conditional
• "You can take the Search action as a bonus action."

Aura of Revelation

• "initiative" is not capitalized in 5e
• only prevent being blinded, not while blinded?

Rebuke the Cowardly

• what snow said above

Photon Form

• no listed action cost
• the hyphen in "30-feet" doesn't make sense
• just say "All other creatures...", your allies being included is already implied
• ability checks should be listed as Dexterity (Stealth) and Charisma (Deception) checks
• 5e uses "you can", not "you may"
• final sentence is ambiguous. is the feature activation a part of the casting of zone of truth? does it allow you to regain the expended use? do you need to cast zone of truth in this way to activate the feature at all? is it subject to the same use limitation?

[rugged owl]

I think for the Percep advantage, its more like declaring what you're trying to find. If youre trying to look for a lost object, you dont have advantage. If you're looking for a person, regardless if they are there or not, you have advantage

[heady dust]

if that's the case, then it could be worded like inquisitive rogue's 3rd level feature

that would clarify the issue

[round dock]

• Cantrip Removed
• typos fixed!
• "magic borne on objects they can see within 30 feet of them" is intended to work similar to being under the affects of Detect Magic, except that it relies on line of sight. Is there a better way to word that?
• Checks in the CD have been changed to include the statistic.
• The advantage is intended to be limited to when you use the Search action; Added "When you use the Search action," to that bullet; removed the conditional.
• Added "or end being blinded".

[round dock]

The intent is that the reaction could be used when something transitions from being within your sight to it attempting to leave your sight and hide. Does making it a creature "you can see" help?

[heady dust]

by copying the wording of detect magic?

You sense the presence of magic within 30 feet of you. If you sense magic in this way, you can use your action to see a faint aura around any visible creature or object in the area that bears magic.
it already relies on line of sight

[rugged owl]

You should still have range, but we could go with something like

"When a creature you can see would become unseen, such as moving behind full cover or becoming invisible"

What do you think @heady dust

[heady dust]

it could work. but 5e uses "total cover"

[rugged owl]

Yeah just replace full with total then

[round dock]

Is such a feature balanced and impactful enough?

[rugged owl]

Damaging an enemy trying to hide from you? I think its fine, though you might struggle slightly to trigger it in most situations

Though I guess with the wording I offered it also includes you moving behind full cover and so you cant see them lol, might wanna close that loophole

[vital crag]

I did a similar subclass a while back and negated the invis / illusion / whatever the triggering effect was if the target failed a save

charisma mod damage as a reaction is facing some stiff competition with other things, especially for a 15 feature

if you negate the hide or invis, then it becomes more valuable

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/pbaw74_woZLl for reference on where I ended up

[round dock]

how potent is truesight at this level? How well would blindsight work instead?

[rugged owl]

Blindsight 30 at 15th might not be crazy, considering you can get blindsight 10 as an FS

Truesight, nothing gets perma truesight so im not so sure

Closest is Divination's Third Eye granting EITHER Ethereal Sight 60 or See Invis 10

[vital crag]

it’s a short range TS so that helps, but it’s hard to know how strong it is. definitely campaign dependent

my personal feeling when making it was that other options were weaker in combat so this one wasn’t wild and was mitigated by the short range