The Scholar class is an Intelligence based non-spellcaster class that lets D&D players take on the role of tactical geniuses, medical prodigies, and savants of all stripes. Last month we presented the second full draft of the class. This draft includes revised features for the core class, for the Physician, Ritualist, and Tactician archetypes, and includes a new archetype: the Culinarian. If this is your first time seeing the Scholar, you can find it below.

The Scholar, Third Draft

EDIT: You can now find the final version of the Scholar class on the DM’s Guild by following the link below!

The Scholar Class

If this isn’t your first time, you may be wondering about the changes. In general the feedback I got from the 2nd draft was that people were very happy with the direction the class was evolving in. There were some, however, who felt that there were too many moving pieces. To address those concerns, I removed the Applied Intelligence feature and dropped all references to Critical Analysis Bonus, instead using proficiency bonus.

The Physician and Tactician archetypes both had features removed or extensively reworked. For the Physician, I was concerned that the prior version of the Rejuvenating Technique feature was really good in a party with one or more full spellcasters and less exciting in other party make-ups. The Tactician had quite a few of its features changed and moved around to ensure that it got to do more warlord-y stuff sooner. It also suffered from having multiple features competing for the Tactician’s bonus action each turn and I felt that it was hobbling the archetype.

I am optimistic that the largest changes are now done and this is very close to the version of the class we’ll be seeing at launch. If all continues to go well, I expect the Scholar to be complete and on the DM’s Guild in early 2019. This Scholar class was originally inspired by reddit user wdalright’s first draft of a class by the same name. You can find his take on this concept on the DM’s Guild.

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