I'd do the shadowcaster as both a wizard subclass and a sorcerer subclass, just because there's lots of ground to cover with 'shadow magic' and variety is nice.Īs for incarnum, I never found it weird so much as boring. I think iI'd try it as a bard subclass (though it would look very unlike the 3e true namer). The truenamer, as you say, was built on a mechanic that doesn't work, but the theme is certainly doable. The binder was done by a third party publisher. Maybe even make 3 such classes to mirror the tome of battle, but I think the best 5e way would just be monk and fighter subclasses. Or start from scratch with a new class, with those disciplines as the subclass.

I could totally see an fighter subclass like the eldritch knight but using maneuvers. Monks based on the disciplines would be neat. I don't know if anything can be done for Incarnum in 5e since it was such an experimental concept. Shadow magic was most like the existing system of magic, and there is a Shadow Sorcerer, but I feel there could be a wizard subclass that's somewhere between a Necromancer and Illusionist (or at least a Necromancer-like Wizard that's less about the undead), much like how the War Mage is between the Abjurer and Evoker.Ĭould there be Ways of the Desert Wind or Setting Sun or Diamond Mind Monks? Or ideas to have a more story-involved Battlemaster Fighter, since the Battlemaster seemed to be just a Fighter subclass for a rules system. Tome of Battle was in many ways the precursor to 4e's power system, but I liked the system of martial magic and special techniques, and even the idea of the various schools of fighting styles like Desert Wind and White Raven.īut in 5e could any of the ideas from these books have more of a place? There isn't a Vestige Pact Warlock yet, which was 4e's attempt at the Binder, but I feel that could happen. I think everyone felt that Incarnum was too far out there in weirdness, most of Tome of Magic felt poorly implemented as remember how the True Namer was an example of why there should never be a skill-roll based power system.

Those 3 books represented attempts to experiment in 3e's lifetime.

Dnd 3.5 tome of magic