Here are some improvements I think would be good for Solasta, in no particular order. I enjoy the game and want to see it be even better =)
Flexible Half-Feats
What is a half-feat? A half-feat is a feat that provides a +1 to an ability score in addition to its other effect. Ambidextrous and the Creed of [insert god] are examples of half-feats.
Improvement: Let some half-feats choose between one of a few different ability score increases that allow for a bit more build flexibility. For example, Ambidextrous could let you pick between +1 to Dexterity or to Strength. Not all half-feats need this (the Creed feats are fine as they are), but it would be nice.
Shadowcaster Darkvision
The Shadowcaster subclass for Rogue does not get access to any form of Darkvision in their class and depend on either racial traits, items or a buff from another party member to see in the dark. While this isn't inherently a big problem, it doesn't make sense to me since they are supposed to use the dark to mask what they are up to. Yet human and island halfling Shadowcasters will have to pull out a torch to defend themselves in the dark. It feels a little odd that one of the Ranger subclasses gets darkvision eventually (Shadow Tamer: Know the Darkness) and that Rangers have natural access to the Darkvision spell, but Shadowcasters do not have a way to help the races without natural Darkvision see in the dark.
Improvement: Let Shadowcasters either get Darkvision as a passive bonus or as a buff they can apply to themselves akin to the Darkvision spell when they get the archetype at level 3. This would only affect humans and island halflings, but the game already feel very unfair towards those races due to their lack of Darkvision.
Fighters
It is hard to justify using a Fighter for anything other than preference at the cost of efficiency, which has only gotten worse since we got Barbarians and now the new subclasses.
Improvement: Just... please print a really, really strong archetype for Fighter.
Humans
I can understand the reluctance to make a human subrace, but I do think that having an alternative statblock to use for humans would be a welcome addition to the game. The standard human just isn't good.
Improvement: There have been numerous ideas on the forum about a "Rift Marked" or similar type human subrace that would make a lot of sense within the lore of the world and can avoid possible hiccups about some human groups being inherently better than others. Alternatively, the baseline humans could be given a buff.
Loremaster and Insight Domain
These subclasses seems like memes in a game that is primarily a dungeon crawler. Insight Domain might not be that bad of an addition since Clerics have the most subclasses by a fair margin so having 1 throw away option isn't that big a deal, but spending one of the 4 (3 before Lost Valley) subclasses for a class on something that has barely any relevance seems ill adviced. There's not even the excuse of them being SRD, since these archetypes were made for Solasta.
Improvement: Give Loremaster and Insight Domain a combat feature when they choose their archetype.
Thief and Darkweaver
Not only do these archetypes overlap a bit too much with their improved vertical movement, but the Thief doesn't really get anything to help them much in a game that is mostly combat. Darkweaver, contrarily, is just kinda bad at what they do in combat. The bonus to ranged damage is too situational to be consistent and not that great on a class with 1 attack per turn to begin with, while their Poisonous feature relies on the worst damage type in the game, since a lot of creatures are resistant or immune to poison.
Improvement: Increase the consistency of Darkweaver features against enemies (Predator damage bonus working on Sneak Attack rules, while Poisonous can deal Acid damage instead of poison. Change it to save for half damage). Darkweaver should also probably get Darkvision as a class feature, 'cause it's an assassin in the dark. Thief... I don't know what to do about Thief. A non-combat archetype is just kinda ill fitted to Solasta in general and feels like a wasted addition like Loremaster and Insight, but it is also SRD.
Strike-Cantrips
It would be nice to have some cantrips that incorporated weapon attacks. I had a thread with details during Early Access, so I'll rehash the general idea:
Frozen Strike: Wizard, Sorcerer, Spellblade
Make a melee weapon attack as part of this cantrip, dealing damage as normal. If you hit, the enemy becomes Hindered (-2 movement). At levels 5, 11 and 17, you add 1d8 cold damage to your weapon attack when using this cantrip.
Shadow Strike: Wizard, Sorcerer, Shadowcaster
Make a melee weapon attack as part of this cantrip, dealing damage as normal. If you hit, the enemy becomes Shocked (cannot take reactions). At levels 5, 11 and 17, you add 1d8 psychic damamge to your weapon attack when using this cantrip.
Note: These attacks would have to be excluded from the Powerful Cantrip feat. We absolutely don't want a Shadowcaster able to make Sneak Attacks with a miss for half mechanic.
Note 2: Spellblades should probably get the ability to cast Frozen Strike in place of one weapon attack once per turn, instead of giving up their full attack action.
More Feats
More feats would be a welcome addition. There are pretty few right now and even fewer worth investing in.
I'm sure I'll remember more things eventually, but that it is for now.
Feel free to add your own ideas below.
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If I DM, I was going to use what I call Minor Feats or Mini-Feats, that is they have about 1/3 power (or half) but cost 1 ASI (Ability Score Improvement). A character can later upgrade it to the full version of the Feat. At level 1, you would need to sacrifice 1 bonus Ability racial point to start with a Mini-Feat.
Anyhow, was surprised to see someone else propose it. First time I hear about it.
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I would also LOVE flexible backgrounds that use a point-buy logic (you have x points: a Skill cost x1, a Tool cost x2, etc.).
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Darkweaver : I conceptually really wanted to play it (made a party of all Dwarves), but I concluded it was too underwhelming and went for a different Ranger archetype in Solasta.
Fighters : I mostly find the core 5e Champion all-around weaker than other Fighter archetypes and a bit oddly designed.
[ My revised Champion: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/350457/Champion-Fighter--Balanced-by-Baraz ]
Steam profile : https://steamcommunity.com/id/baraz/
Identify All
A variant of the ritual casting for Identify which lasts 1 hour and identifies all items in your party. This is just a big quality of life thing.
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Highlight Summonable Tiles
When summoning a creature, it would help to have the available tiles highlighted instead of having to run around hitboxes and such.
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I think this is the number one thing I would change since it slows the game down a lot and would give me something to do while everyone else is taking their turn. Please, please, let me access my character sheet, inventory and spell list when it’s not my turn. I don’t even need to be able to effect anything. Sometimes turns can take a long time and I want to be preparing for my turn and also having something to do instead of just waiting for someone to pick a spell or move. I think this would be hugely beneficial to the game. Just to see what is available to me or give me a chance to read my spells, abilities, even just get a reminder on my proficiencies.
More hot keys. Maybe add something for quick spells. If I use the same cantrip every turn, or pushing the Attack button when I have a melee & ranged weapon (Javelin) instead of clicking my target and being spotted as I run up to them instead of throwing it. I would love to just push F to attack or T to cast guidance before I try to pick a lock.
Strike-Cantrips
It would be nice to have some cantrips that incorporated weapon attacks. I had a thread with details during Early Access, so I'll rehash the general idea:
Frozen Strike: Wizard, Sorcerer, Spellblade
Make a melee weapon attack as part of this cantrip, dealing damage as normal. If you hit, the enemy becomes Hindered (-2 movement). At levels 5, 11 and 17, you add 1d8 cold damage to your weapon attack when using this cantrip.Shadow Strike: Wizard, Sorcerer, Shadowcaster
Make a melee weapon attack as part of this cantrip, dealing damage as normal. If you hit, the enemy becomes Shocked (cannot take reactions). At levels 5, 11 and 17, you add 1d8 psychic damage to your weapon attack when using this cantrip.Note: These attacks would have to be excluded from the Powerful Cantrip feat. We absolutely don't want a Shadowcaster able to make Sneak Attacks with a miss for half mechanic.
Note 2: Spellblades should probably get the ability to cast Frozen Strike in place of one weapon attack once per turn, instead of giving up their full attack action.
Yes. This would be great and make up for not having Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade. Also, the Note 2 is important and brings it more in line with the Bladesinger (since Tasha's).
I'd like to see some alternative for non-wizard parties to get Identify.
I played the original game through 3 times, and the Lost Valley once. One time I did a playthrough with a Sorcerer instead of a Wizard, and not having Identify is a real PITA. Using vendors makes finding magic objects much less valuable, as sometime you go quite a while before getting back to one.
5e allows anyone to spend a short rest to figure out what an magic object does. Or add a buyable object anyone can use with Identify charges? Or add the spell to every spell list?
Darkvision Feat
Adding a feat for humans and island halflings to get darkvision would be nice. The game feels pretty unfair towards these racial options, since everything else gets darkvision.
Example of how it could work:
Nightowl:
Prerequisites: Human or island halfling
You gain darkvision up to 60 feet.
You get a +1 to one ability score of your choice.
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Correct Monster Proficiency Bonuses
Some monsters, like the Crimson Spider, have a higher proficiency bonus than they should have. Monsterblocks are supposed to use their CR as their level when calculating their proficiency bonus.
Using the Crimson Spider as an example, let's see how that plays out. The creature is CR 5, meaning it is supposed to have a proficiency bonus of 3. With 20 Str, 16 Dex and 16 Con, it should have:
Con save: +6, Str save: +8, Stealth: +6
Claws to hit: +8, Acid Bite to hit: +6, Acid Spit to hit: +6
What the Crimson Spider actually has:
Con save: +8, Str save: +10, Stealth: +8
Claws to hit: +10, Acid Bite to hit: +8, Acid Spit to hit: +8
The Crimson Spider has a proficiency bonus of +5, which means it is technically a CR 13 creature. Please update the stats of all creatures to be correct according to their CR.
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Max Foraged Food
It would be nice if the maximum number of Foraged Food in our collective inventory maxed out at 6, so we don't start random encounters with 17 of them that weight a character down.
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I am sure this has been asked before, but any chance we can one day get 6 player party/ multiplayer?
Spider Sounds
Please revise the sounds spiders make. Their shrill shrieking is, for the lack of a better word, piercing.
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True Horde Breaker
I'd like to see the real Horde Breaker implemented, where you can target 2 creatures within 5 feet of one another once per turn on one of your attacks. This works with melee and ranged combat.
PHB description of the ability:
Horde Breaker
Once on each of your turns when you make a weapon attack, you can make another attack with the same weapon against a different creature that is within 5 feet of the original target and within range of your weapon.
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Most of the character building stuff (flexible attributes, flexible background proficiencies, better feats, better subclasses for certain classes, variant human, etc) are already in the game via the community expansion mod (which also allows multi-classing as a bonus!). There’s also an option to eliminate the “identify tax”.
Most of the character building stuff (flexible attributes, flexible background proficiencies, better feats, better subclasses for certain classes, variant human, etc) are already in the game via the community expansion mod (which also allows multi-classing as a bonus!). There’s also an option to eliminate the “identify tax”.
Which is nice, but I'd still prefer officially released options. Not everyone likes modding, especially without a mod manager.
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Versatile Weapons
Some feat support for weapons with the Versatile tag (longsword, battleaxe, warhammer).
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