We all have our reasons for getting excited for The Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. Some folks just want the adventures. Others are excited to see the specifics about the magical items. I, for one, am hyped for the new Wildemount subclasses.
Altogether, there are three new subclasses. Each of them draws from the unique lore created in Critical Role. These subclasses are unique, and each is very distinct. In this post, I will briefly review all three Wildemount subclasses, but you can get the whole story with our in-depth review of each one.
Table of Contents
Wildemount Subclasses – A Review
There are three new subclasses that are introduced in The Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. Two of those subclasses are wizards that wield one of two types of Dunamancy Magic. The other is the fighter subclass known as the Echo Knight.
Chronurgy Wizard
See our Full Review of the Chronurgy Wizard!
Chronurgy is an Arcane Tradition available to player characters when they reach level two. This type of wizard wields Chronurgy spells that alter space and time. These wizards can not only bend time, certain spells can also send enemies into the past involuntarily.
The highlight of this subclass is the amazing, unique set of spells. However, they also have several interesting traits. Chronal Shift lets a Chronurgist force a creature to reroll an attack or a save. Temporal Awareness gives a great boost to initiative. At the highest levels, these wizards can ignore the outcome of a roll entirely and select a desired result.
Graviturgy Wizard
See our Full Review of the Graviturgy Wizard!
Graviturgy wizards have the power to manipulate not only the nature of items or beings but also the way gravity interacts with them. This class of magic is particularly powerful, with spells that can wreak havoc on the battlefield.
The traits of Graviturgy are interesting. You can create Gravity Wells or use Violent Attraction to increase fall or weapon damage. At Level 14, a wizard can use Event Horizon to create a dome of pure gravitational energy that slows down enemies while dealing significant damage for one minute.
Fighter: Echo Knight
See our Full Review of the Echo Knight!
The only subclass in Wildemount that is not a wizard is the Fighter subclass Echo Knight. A frontline fighter hailing fro the Kryn Dynasty, this subclass also bases its power from the magic of dunamis. They can create echoes of themselves, which are magical, translucent images identical to your character in form. While your echo is weak at early stages, each feature of this subclass goes into making them stronger. By Level 18, you can create two echoes that you can transmit your consciousness into. These echoes can attack, grant you hitpoints when they die, and contain a host of other useful traits.
Conclusion
While I would have loved more than three new subclasses, I genuinely love each of these. I do feel like both forms of Dunamancy magic could be overpowered. That said, WOTC has given DMs an out by making it clear this magic is hard to come by. There are also some questions about the Echo Knight mechanics that need answering. That said, this list is as cool as I had hoped.
I feel like Wizards is treating Matt Mercer with kid gloves and not properly vetting the sub classes. Being able to get a 1d8 bonus to initiative for EIGHT HOURS as a first level spell is bonkers overpowered. Maybe 1d4 for an hour,at most. Imagine if you have a high starting dex and roll an 8 for the day? You will be acting first in every encounter and pissing off your fellow teammates.
Yea, I really enjoy his stuff but I agree to an extent. I thought it was kind of telling that the section in Wildemount about Dunamis magic had a warning that was basically “hardly any characters should have access to this.”