When I became the editor for EN5ider my first objective (aside from keeping the high level of quality D&D 5E articles coming!) was a new suite of classes to follow up on the original A Touch of Class. In this series I’m going to explore the 9 new entries in A Touch More Class, reveal some of the development process behind them, and consider the obstacles in getting these from ideas to fully finished concepts. Get a quick fix on them all here and pledge here!

Part of this Kickstarter involved revising A Touch of Class and while researching through reviews of the book, one class stood out as the clear favorite: Josh Gentry’s cardcaster. (By the way there’s a new tarot deck made just for them available in the A Touch More Class Kickstarter!) It should be no surprise that he’s got another very innovative concept for this time around and today we’re going to be looking into THE GEOMANCER!

(and you can check out the Geomancer class for free over on DriveThruRPG! https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/279780/5E-A-Touch-More-Class-Exclusive-Preview-The-Geomancer)

The Geomancer

Some of us (myself included) might associate “geomancer” with an earth caster but the proper definition encompasses so much more! These are spellcasters in the vein of warlocks but they draw their spell lists based on what’s in the environment around them, have access to divination magic, and use a sacred stone to area-buff party members with temporary hit points. This is all unique and makes for an engaging character role, and Josh did an excellent job of making the archetypes all bring a valuable, interesting aspects to the class. All in all it’s definitely a worthwhile successor to the cardcaster!

• Elemental Magic Like cardcasters, geomancers have dynamic spell lists and get along well with elementals (learning all the relevant languages mid-game), working in some elemental resistance down the line.
• Sacred Stone This is the other real big thing all geomancers share with one another. Depending on their Geomantic Order, the full benefits of the feature can change but it is always essentially about keeping their adventuring party alive.
• Divining While they share the warlock spellcasting progression, geomancers don’t get a grab bag of features to pick from–instead their access to divination spells doesn’t use spell slots so players aren’t made to pick between these and elemental fun.
• Geomantic Orders There’s a lot of variation inside of the geomancer thanks to its subclasses, two of which are decidedly more on the mystical side and two more that get physical.
  • Apothecary Healing ahoy! Get all the tasty healing spells, a bunch of bonuses to heal (a la the Life domain), and some anti-poison benefits spread via Sacred Stone.
  • Architect This is the earth caster! If you’re thinking that it might be cool to turn your D&D games into a sort of tower defense game, once you’re into the latter half of the mid-game (11th level) the bulk of those abilities unlock.
  • Conqueror Full martial proficiency, a pool of dice to mete out for damage increases (like specific, stackable, smaller Bardic Inspiration dice), Extra Attack, and features akin to smiting.
  • Rune Knight Also with full martial proficiency and Extra Attack, what makes this archetype different is that where the Conqueror is oriented to strongly impact a party, the Rune Knight is more of a loner with empowered weapons and more dependable elemental smites,

DESIGN HURDLE: Multipliers Math

The numbers for geomancers got changed, re-scaled, and tweaked a half dozen times before we settled on the class’ final distribution of resources. My basic goal with it was to achieve damage potential equal to other classes (looking at paladins and warlocks) but for that to be spread further apart and concentrated differently.  I think we nailed it and love how complimentary the concept is with the geomancer’s design!

If this sounds awesome to you then please check out the A Touch More Class Kickstarter and if you can’t wait for the PDF/book (which deliver as soon as the project funding period ends) consider joining the EN5ider Patreon! It can be as affordable as $1 per month and as soon as you join you get instant access to the 270+ article archive!