Recently crossing my desk was a copy of Gorgons & Oracles, a Pay-What-You-Want supplement posted on the DMs Guild by Jeff Linehan. As you may have noticed, I do not comment on rules material that much. It is tremendously difficult to judge without playtesting. However, I am very familiar with the proper verbiage, and I do appreciate inspiring material. And, as I have not posted much recently, here are a few quick thoughts on what is in this product.
The core concept is to present a group of class subtypes (or archetypes) based on Greek mythology. As Mystic Odysseys of Theros is just being released at the moment, it is a timely product.
Barbarian: Path of the Marathonian
This barbarian moves faster, fights well with ranged weapons (as it gets the rage bonus to damage), and can knock opponents over when it charges.
The chief problem here is that a Marathon is an endurance race, not a sprint, and some abilities seem more appropriate for a sprint! That is the conceptual problem. I am very wary of allowing the rage damage to apply to all ranged weapons. (In the Bronze Age, missile weapons such as bows were poor.) Thrown weapons I can see a case for.
I delight in the idea that the rage ends if you do not move and knocking opponents prone as you charge is glorious. Double speed while raging may be too much. And gaining advantage on Dexterity saves is what the second-level core barbarian ability Danger Sense gives, so that isn’t a good fit.
A bit of a mixture, this one.
Bard: College of the Homerids
I keep thinking the college is named “Homarids”, which is a sea-dwelling creature in Magic: the Gathering! Properly, the term should be “Homeridae”, but it becomes Homerids with the standardised pluralisation in D&D these days. I miss staves instead of staffs.
“You gain Intimidate and Persuasion as bonus class skills” is terrible wording. It should be “You gain proficiency in Intimidate and Persuasion”. Likewise, “add an additional application of proficiency bonus to their use” should be “Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses those proficiencies.” More troublesome is this subclass expects a bard to not have Intimidate or Persuasion at level 1 and to wait until level 3 to gain them!
Battle Rhetoric allows you to roll a Bardic Inspiration die to add half your charisma bonus to a save or AC to your allies. That seems odd; normally it is the value you roll on your die! (“Expend a Bardic Inspiration die to”)
I do like spending dice to gain advantage or disadvantage, however.
The flavour is there; the mechanics are not quite polished enough.
Cleric: Depths Domain
Poseidon is the god of earthquakes and sea storms. Thus, this subclass gives abilities related to the earth and water. You have the standard problems with wording, but I find the abilities more interesting.
I rather like using Channel Divinity to cause a small tremor to knock your opponents prone!
Poseidon is also the god of horses, but that is not covered in this domain.
Druid: Circle of the Spheres
I have little idea what is going on here. You transform into a pillar of heavenly energy when you wild shape and fling starry orbs at people. Nice visual, but a lot of problems with how it works. Can you attack normally as the pillar? Is this a full different form or do you retain the same statistics.
And the subclass also allows you to cast meteor swarm once per short rest at 14th level. Hmm.
Fighter: Phalanx
The hoplites of classical Greece were rightly feared, especially when the Macedonian showed his brilliance with combined arms. I am trying to work out why you can use glaives, halberds and pikes and a shield – those are very much not weaponry of the era. Perhaps the pike as a stand-in for long spear. The benefits of standing in a “spear wall” are nicely done, however.
What’s “Danger Close”? Is that meant to be “Danger Sense”?
There are oddities to this subclass, but, overall, I like it.
Monk: Way of the Destroyer
Ah, the famed Grecian monk!
Perhaps wrestlers?
This subclass gains bonuses against bloodied (lost half their hit points) enemies. Nice ideas, although I do not recognise their source in Greek mythology.
Paladin: Oath of the Chainbreaker
This paladin fights in the name of democracy, seeking to spread free will. As such, perhaps it would be better suited to the time of the French Revolution; I do not know how much the Athenians tried to spread their system of government!
More sloppiness in the selection of abilities features when the 15th level subclass ability makes the paladin immune to fear effects. Unfortunately, the core paladin is immune to becoming frightened at 10th level!
The capstone ability of summoning the Aegis of Athena is nice, however.
Ranger: Moon Hunter
With the ability to gain advantage on attacks against several category of monsters from third level and additional damage besides, this is the subclass that rangers are likely to want.
I am not sure what a “magical beast” is – that is a monster type not in 5E – but the rest are good.
This subclass is likely overpowered, and it is also one that just seems fun. So, perhaps you allow it?
But “Arcane Antibodies” is a terrible name for an ability.
Rogue: Argonaut
I did not think most of the Argonauts could be counted as rogues. In fact, there are a great many different types of heroes on that journey.
This likely is the most broken subclass. You gain “Deed” points equal to your rogue level. You get them back each short rest. And you can spend a Deed point to deal 2d8 extra damage on a successful attack.
It might have nice ideas, but it is nowhere near balanced.
Sorcerer: Oneiros Ancestry
This is all about being a dream mage. It is a wonderful idea.
It ends up being a variant of an enchantment wizard. I am conflicted about the abilities. The first level ability of Slumber which changes the effects of sleep from 5d8 (5-40) hit points to 4d12 (4-48) hit points is relatively minor, and what comes next does no thrill me. It does not quite come together for me.
Warlock: Patron – The Furies
What a wonderful choice for a patron! Some nice ideas here, but it looks more like a generic “revenge” warlock rather than the punishers of those who dishonour their parents!
Wizard: Promethian Magic
I have no idea how the Flames of Prometheus are meant to work. I include the text here so you can see how odd (and possibly incoherent) it is.
At 2nd Level, you can store a number of spells equal to your proficiency bonus as Flames of Prometheus each day. You can contain spells that are both prepared and not prepared by you that day. It costs about five minutes of downtime to create a Flame, and these may be given to allies to expend as though they were casting the spell using your abilities. If an ally casts the spell from the Flame, it does not count towards your spell slots. However, if you casts a spell contained within a Flame, you must expend an appropriate spell slot. Finally, you can use spells channeled into Flames to cast a spell multiple times.
I feel there are many issues with this ability. And that last line indicates that there may be some misunderstanding of how prepared spells work in 5E.
Conclusion
Although it is by no means a polished piece of work and contains some abilities that are bizarre or not well thought through, Gorgons and Oracles does show much invention. I do not think I would use any of the subclasses “as is”, but there are some that are close.
Some of the subclasses do a much better job of evoking Greek mythology better than others. Others are more of a reach.
But it is always interesting to see other takes on D&D material. It might not fit your needs, but I do like some of the ideas here.