Solasta Class and Subclass Tier Ranking

Ranger

Let me declare my bias upfront: I love D&D Rangers and have spent more time learning to optimize gameplay for them than any other martial class. Because of that I might be overestimating the class compared to other people’s experiences. Unlike most other martial classes, the features and spells Rangers can use to be effective exist in the SRD, which means they did make the transition into Solasta’s homebrewed world easier than most.

Rangers are half-casters, meaning that they start to get spells at lvl 2 and progress their spellcasting half as fast as Wizards and the like. You also get finessable fighting styles and multiattack, giving you a good foundation for a warrior augmenting their abilities with magic.

Proper mastery of the Ranger’s spellcasting is necessary to get the most out of the class and can be punishing compared to the Paladin since you can’t change spells on a long rest, so here is a cheat sheet for some useful spells to have on a Ranger in Solasta for anyone still getting the hang of spellcasting:

• Goodberry, Hunter’s Mark, Fog Cloud, Spike Growth, Silence, Conjure Animal, Protection from Energy

• Darkvision if your character doesn’t have it

Overall class rating: Good

Class highlights:

• Spellcasting up to 3rd lvl

• Extra Attack

• Quality of Life features (Goodberry spell, Natural Explorer)

• Among the fastest scaling classes lvls 2-5, making for a strong early game

• Homebrewed Favored Enemy fix: +0-4 damage against favored enemies

Hunter

Hunter is a straight upgrade to your martial abilities as a Ranger. In 5e tabletop, it is considered on the below average side of subclasses, but that is because Rangers got so many other great options later. It sadly also has a lot of ‘trap’ options that you should avoid. I’ve marked the features to avoid in the features section. 

Your main Hunter feature the entire game will be Colossus Slayer, which adds 1d8 extra damage to a target once per turn. This doesn’t sound like much until you do the math. Sparring you the calculations, you can expect ca 2,9 (1 attack), 3,9 (2 attacks) or 4,3 (3 attacks) damage on average from Colossus Slayer per turn. For comparison, a greatsword attack with 20 strength has an average of ca 7,8 damage. Typically martial characters don’t get stronger passive damage upgrades than Colossus Slayer + Extra Attack before lvl 11, making the Hunter very frontloaded, which is good. 

After Colossus Slayer, I recommend Steel Will since you will have to deal with fear in some hard fights in the game. Multiattack Defense is unreliable at best and Escape the Horde is plainly not good.

At level 11, you only have trap options. Just pick one and never use it.

Subclass rating: Good

Features:

• Hunter's Prey (lvl 3): Choose one of the following hunting specialties:

  • Colossus Slayer: Your tenacity can wear down the most potent of foes, When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, the creature takes an extra 1d8 damage if it's below its hit point maximum, You can deal this extra damage only once per turn.

  • Trap Giant Killer: When a large or larger creature within one cell of you hits or misses you with an attack, you can use your reaction to attack that creature immediately after its attack, provided that you can see the creature.

  • Trap Horde Breaker: Once in each of your turns when you down an opponent, you can make another attack with the same weapon against a different creature.

• Defensive Tactics (lvl 7): Choose one of the following options:

  • Trap Escape the Horde: Opportunity attacks against you are made with disadvantage.

  • Trap Multiattack Defense: When a creature deals damage to you with an attack, you gain a +4 bonus to AC against all subsequent attacks made by that creature for the rest of the turn.

  • Steel Will: Advantage on saving throws against being frightened.

• Multiattack (lvl 11): Select one of the multiattack options:

  • Trap Volley: You can use your action to make a ranged attack against any number of creatures within 2 cells of a point you can see within your weapon's range. You must have ammunition for each target, as normal, and you make a separate attack roll for each target.

  • Trap Whirlwind Attack: You can use your action to make a melee attack against any number of creatures within 1 cell of you, with a separate attack roll for each.

Marksman

These Rangers are dedicated ranged combatants… and they’re not that great at it. While I do think it has more potential than most of the Fighter subclasses because of its spellcasting, it is overshadowed at its own game by the Hunter and even Swift Blade.

Subclass rating: Poor

Features:

• Additional Proficiencies (level 3): Herbalism Kit or Poisoner's Kit.

• Reaction Shot (level 3): When a visible opponent 2 cells or more from you attacks you with a ranged weapon or a spell, you can use your reaction to take a shot after the triggering attack.

• Step Back (level 7): When you are within melee range of an enemy creature, you can use your bonus action to move one cell without provoking opportunity attacks, and gain advantage on your next attack with a ranged weapon this turn.

• Recycler (level 7): You can craft arrows every time you take a short or Long Rest.

• Fast Aim (level 11): If you are using a ranged weapon against an enemy, your bonus action can be used to make an additional ranged attack on the same target.

Shadow Tamer

The poor man’s Gloom Stalker, the Shadow Tamer is a very polarizing subclass. In the Crown of the Magister campaign they have amazing potential as damage dealers in the late game because so many of the enemies are susceptible to their Dark Slayer feature, but this is less common in the Lost Valley.

They are overall solid characters and a good choice for humans in particular as you get Superior Darkvision as a passive feature at lvl 7, but they are behind Hunters in the early game.

Subclass rating: Good

Features:

• Tunnel Wisdom (level 3): When in dim light or darkness, you gain advantage on Dexterity saving throws.

• Dark Slayer (level 3): When attacking a creature with superior darkvision with a weapon, you add your proficiency bonus to your damage.

• Rope Grapple (level 7): Target a creature and attempt to pull it if it fails a STR contest.

• Know the Darkness (level 7): While in dim or no light, you have advantage on Stealth, Perception, Investigation checks, and gain tremorsense (you actually get Superior Darkvision, not tremorsense).

• Swift Retaliation (level 11): Whenever an opponent attacks you from a nearby cell, you are granted an immediate melee attack against that opponent.

Swift Blade (Lost Valley)

These Rangers are so old school that they decided they wanted to be badass warriors before anything else. And they’re really, really good at it, mastering dual wielding better than anyone, while also being better at archery than Marksman and outclassing Spellblades at their own game.

Why are they so strong? They get mobility, increased defenses, amazing burst damage and scales well at high levels. While they are geared towards dual wielding, only their Blade Dance feature requires it, so they are capable with any selection of weapons.

Subclass rating: Great

Features:

• Quick Steps (level 3): Your speed is increased by 2 cells. Additionally, opportunity attacks against you are made with disadvantage when you Dash.

• Blade Dance (level 3): While dual wielding melee weapons, you gain +2 AC.

• Battle Focus (level 7): As a free action, you can enter a heightened state of battle focus until the start of your next turn, dealing 2d8 additional weapon damage every time you attack.

• Extra Attack 2 (level 11): When you take the Attack or Shove action, you can attack an additional time. Can be activated once per combat turn.

Paladin

It feels wrong to have to write anything about the Paladin at all. It’s just a really strong class and everyone who knows anything about D&D 5e knows it. But here goes:

Paladins get the ability to tank, deal damage, heal and buff the party. In my opinion, they have a slightly worse spell list than Rangers, but get spells from their Oaths to make up for it and then some. And they get Channel Divinity. It is the strongest warrior class in the game by a good margin and, spoiler, none of the subclasses are ranked below Great. 

Overall class rating: Great

Class highlights:

• Spellcasting up to 3rd level

• Lay on Hands

• Divine Smite

• Extra Attack

• Aura of Protection

• Fear immunity

• Improved Divine Smile

Oath of Devotion

In tabletop, this is the most basic of the Paladins. In Solasta, they made one change that made it anything but basic. They swapped their bonus spells, making Oath of Devotion Paladins amazingly powerful gish characters. Shield is absolutely bonkers to give to a Paladin.

Subclass rating: Great

Features:

• Oath of Devotion Spells (level 3): In your list and always prepared:

  • Level 3: Shield, Protect vs Evil & Good

  • Level 5: Lesser Restoration, Aid

  • Level 9: Dispel Magic, Revivify

• Channel Divinity: Sacred Weapon (level 3): Channel Divinity to bless one weapon. For 1 minute, add your Charisma modifier to hit with that weapon (minimum +1). The weapon also emits bright light over 4 cells and dim light over 4 more cells, and its attacks count as magical.

• Channel Divinity: Turn the Unholy (level 3): Channel Divinity to force fiends and undead within 6 cells who can see you to flee unless they make a successful Wisdom saving throw.

• Aura of Devotion (level 7): Friendly creatures In the aura cannot be charmed while you are conscious.

Oath of the Motherland

Do you like to burn things? Because Motherland Paladins are pretty good at it. More importantly, you give your party fire resistance and +1 AC as part of your aura from lvl 7 onwards. 

Subclass rating: Great

Features:

• Oath of Motherland Spells (level 3): In your list and always prepared:

  • Level 3: Bane, Burning Hands

  • Level 5: Branding Smite, Scorching Ray

  • Level 9: Fireball, Dispel Magic

• Channel Divinity: Fiery Wrath (level 3): Channel Divinity to target one creature within 12 cells, dealing 2d6+paladin level fire damage and setting the target on fire. It can make a Dexterity check against your spell DC to put out the fire, or sustain 1d6 more fire damage per turn for one minute.

• Channel Divinity: Fiery Presence (level 3): Channel Divinity to blind opponents within 12 cells who fail a Dexterity save. Creatures with darkvision or better sight in darkness have disadvantage. Blindness lasts 1d4 turns.

• Volcanic Aura (level 7): Friendly creatures in the aura gain fire resistance and +1 to AC.

Oath of Tirmar

The “Ranger” among Paladins, mostly getting bonuses against specific creature types which limits them somewhat. But they also have Shield, so they are automatically a top tier class. Good pick for humans, since you get Superior Darkvision as part of your aura at level 7.

Subclass rating: Great

Features:

• Oath of Tirmar Spells (level 3): In your list and always prepared:

  • Level 3: Sleep, Shield

  • Level 5: Hold Person, Blindness

  • Level 9: Daylight, Slow

• Bonus Language (level 3): When you take the Oath of Tirmar, you acquire the Tirmarian language.

• Channel Divinity: Golden Speech (level 3): Channel Divinity to gain advantage on Persuasion and Intimidation checks for one hour.

• Channel Divinity: Scourge of the Hidden (level 3): Channel Divinity to deal 1d6 additional radiant damage on attacks which hit opponents with either natural shapeshifting or darkvision (2d6 if both). The effect lasts for 1 minutes.

• Aura of Truth (level 7): Friendly creatures in the aura gain superior darkvision and +2 Perception.

Continued in next post

Oath of Judgment (Lost Valley)

While they start out a bit slow (for a Paladin, mind you), there are no finer damage dealers in the game than Judgment Pallys. Not only do you get access to Haste as a powerful self-buff, but from level 7 onwards you increase your and your allies’ weapon damage by your proficiency bonus. Funnily enough, Judgment Pallys can use this to effectively dual wield, opening some options Pallys usually don’t have.

Subclass rating: Great

Features:

• Oath of Judgement Spells (level 3): In your list and always prepared:

  • Level 3: Guiding Bolt, Protection vs Evil & Good

  • Level 5: Enhance Ability, Hold Person

  • Level 9: Hypnotic Pattern, Haste

• Channel Divinity: Weight of Justice (level 3): You can use your bonus action to Channel Divinity to pour your determination into your weapon. When you hit your target with the next melee weapon attack, they must make a successful Charisma saving throw or become restrained for up to 1 minute. The target can repeat a Charisma saving throw at the end of each of their turns to end the effect.

• Channel Divinity: Purge Corruption (level 3): You can use your bonus action to Channel Divinity to remove one of the negative conditions (Blinded, Deafened, Paralyzed or Poisoned) from an ally within 6 cells of you.

• Aura of Righteousness (level 7): While not incapacitated, you constantly emanate a 2-cells radius aura. All allies (including yourself) within it deal an additional amount of damage equal to your proficiency modifier when making weapon attacks (same damage type than the weapon used to make the attack).

Rogue

Rogues are a popular class and for good reason. Above all else, Rogues in 5e did one thing really, really well; game feel. It’s fun to use Rogue features. It’s fun to roll sneak attack damage. It’s fun to be a d8 light armored class and somehow have a higher survivability than the warriors boasting better stats.

Alas, this is in part a mirror image. Rogues deal okay, but not great damage, and they fall quickly to focused fire. And Expertise is not as great a feature as people think it is, especially in a game as combat heavy as Solasta. But does that mean Rogues are bad? No, they’re pretty good. But know what you’re getting yourself into.

Overall class rating: Average

Class highlights:

• Sneak Attack

• Cunning Action

• Uncanny Dodge

• Bonus feat

Thief

Let’s take a class with only basic combat features and give it a subclass with no additional combat features. This one isn’t even very good in tabletop, and certainly not suited for Solasta’s combat heavy campaigns.

Subclass rating: Underpowered

Features:

• Fast Hands (level 3): Cunning Action allows you to take the Use an Object action.

• Second-Story Work (level 3): Climbing no longer costs you extra movement, difficult climb surfaces are considered normal for you, and you can jump longer distances.

• Supreme Sneak (level 9): You have advantage on DEX (Stealth) ability checks.

Darkweaver

This is basically a Thief with some combat bonuses. Beware, you don’t have multiattack to take advantage of proficiency to damage and poison is the most commonly resisted type of damage, assuming the target isn’t outright immune.

Subclass rating: Poor

Features:

• Bonus Proficiency (level 3): Proficient with the Poisoner's Kit.

• Spider on Wall (level 3): Climbing no longer costs you extra movement, and difficult climb surfaces are considered normal for you.

• Predator (level 3): When hitting an enemy on lower ground with a ranged weapon, add your proficiency bonus to the damage.

• Poisonous (level 9): When you hit with a melee weapon and deal at least 1 point of damage, your target must make a CON save DC, or they will be poisoned for one hour and take an additional 2d6 damage.

Shadowcaster

Rogue with magic is a fun combo and in Solasta they have some really fun magic. In fact, Shadowcasters got all the spells Spellblade wants. Shield, Protection from Evil and Good, False Life, Invisibility, Blur and See Invisibility are all great choices.

Subclass rating: Good

Features:

• Spellcasting (level 3): Cast wizard spells and cantrips from the divination, illusion, necromancy, and abjuration schools.

• Shadow Dodge (level 3): As a bonus action, teleport to a cell you can see within 5 cells. Recharges after a short rest.

• Shadow Retribution (level 9): If you are targeted by a damaging spell, whether it damages you or not, you can cast a cantrip in reaction on the caster.

Hoodlum (Lost Valley)

This Rogue is slightly more defensive than other Rogues and that’s about it. You get a more solid AC early on and later the ability to impose disadvantage with sneak attacks is nice, but this class doesn’t really do anything a Shadowcaster can’t do better. Still, I’d rather be a Hoodlum than a Thief or Darkweaver any day.

Subclass rating: Average

Features:

• Mean Mug (level 3): You gain proficiency in Intimidation, or expertise in Intimidation if you were already proficient.

• The Right Tools (level 3): You gain proficiency with martial weapons, medium armors and shields.

• Heavy Beating (level 3): You can use Sneak Attack even when using non-finesse melee weapons.

• Menacing (level 9): An enemy hit by your Sneak Attack will have disadvantage on their attack rolls against you until the start of your next turn.

Monk (Inner Strength)

Monks aren’t great, but at least they made a few homebrew changes in Solasta to improve things just a bit. They have low armor class, mediocre hp, source everything to the same limited resource, and scale their class DC off of wisdom instead of dexterity, meaning you have to choose between being able to hit things or being able to use your Monk features on the things you can’t hit. And, on top of this, they have more restrictions on what magical equipment they can benefit from than any other martial class. 

Overall class rating: Poor

Class highlights:

• Flurry of Blows

• Stunning strike

• Extra Attack

• Fear Immunity

Way of the Open Hand

The Monkiest Monk that ever Monked and it doesn’t Monk that well. Well, that’s not entirely fair. You get an alright bonus to Flurry of Blows that almost makes it worth using and a self-heal that is 18-36 hp once per long rest… okay, these features aren’t great. But we do get Shield as a reaction from homebrew at lvl 11, which means they actually work towards something useful.

Subclass rating: Poor

Features:

• Open Hand Technique (level 3): Whenever you hit a creature with Flurry of Blows, you can add one of three effects:

  • knock the target prone if they fail a Dexterity saving throw;

  • shove the target 3 cells away if they fail a Strength saving throw;

  • prevent the target from taking reactions until the end of your next turn.

• Wholeness of Body (level 3): As an action, heal yourself for the amount equal to 3 × Monk Level. You regain uses of this ability after a long rest.

• Tranquility (level 3): You can use your reaction to spend 1 Ki point to cast Shield.

Way of Survival

This is… actually decent. It helps with the Monk's horrendous defensive capabilities early on, without sacrificing what offensive presence the class has. And it only gets better, as the lvl 6 feature scales fairly well. It’s still a poor alternative to Barbarian with unnecessary equipment restrictions, but I’ll take it over the normal state of affairs for Monks. Keep in mind that Unmoving Strength is unlikely to do more than just let Monks just kinda keep pace with powerful magical weapons that are fairly easy to access in Solasta. 

Subclass rating: Average

Features:

• Defensive Stance (level 3): While not wearing armor, you gain +2 to AC. And while under the effect of Patient Defense, you have an advantage on attack rolls.

• Unbreakable Body (level 6): Improves Patient Defense – it now grants resistance to all damage and allows you to use your hit die to heal at the start of your next turn if you take damage.

• Unmoving Strength (level 11): Adds Constitution modifier to damage rolls of unarmed strikes.

Way of Light

I want to like this subclass, but I just can’t. It scales too slow, with too little to show for it. The lvl 6 feature could’ve been great if it was more consistent to set up, but you need to either land Shine, which takes an action, or Flurry of Blows, which takes Ki and can only be done after an attack action. That means that there is always a round of setup that greatly diminishes how much damage you’ll actually get from this.

Subclass rating: Poor

Features:

• Luminous Ki (level 3): You gain access to the Light and Shine cantrips and creatures hit by your Flurry of Blows emit bright light.

• Radiant Strikes (level 6): Adds 1d4 radiant damage to each of your attacks when hitting enemies under the effect of Luminous Ki or Shine.

• Blinding Flash (level 11): You can use 2 Ki Points and your bonus action to deal 3d6 radiant damage and blind enemies surrounding you that fail a Constitution saving throw. Enemies take half damage on a success.

Way of Freedom (Lost Valley)

I don’t know how to sum up this subclass beyond saying it’s kinda like being a Survival Monk, without any of the good features.

Subclass rating: Poor

Features:

• Swift Steps (level 3): Using Flurry of Blows allows you to dash for free and grants an advantage on your next attack.

• Swirling Dance (level 6): Whenever an enemy misses with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to counterattack.

• Unending Strikes (level 11): Improves Flurry of Blows – it now allows you to make three attacks instead of two.

Caster Classes

The caster classes are Bards, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock and Wizard. Caster characters are expected to use the spellcasting feature as a core part of their combat tactics.

Bard (Inner Strength)

This is the premiere skill based class in the game, between Expertise, Jack of All Trades and spellcasting. Not as important in Solasta, but I thought I’d mention it. They are also really, really good support casters that get a separate support ability that is used on a bonus action. And they get to steal spells from other classes to improve their own spell list. And they give bonus healing on short rests. 

Overall class rating: Good

Class highlights:

• Spellcasting up to 6th lvl

• Bardic Inspiration

• Song of Rest

• Magical Secrets

College of Lore

This is the Bardiest Bard that ever Barded and it is really good at it. You get a load of new skills, can use your Bardic Inspiration to debuff enemies and you get more magical secrets. You can do just about anything as a caster from level 6 onwards. 

Subclass rating: Great

Features:

• Bonus Proficiencies (level 3): Gain proficiency in 3 additional skills

• Cutting Words (level 3): Use your bonus action to expend one Bardic Inspiration die to select a target and decrease its ability checks, attack and damage rolls by the value of the Bardic Inspiration die until the start of your next turn.

• Magic Secrets (level 6): Lore Bards get access to Magical Secrets before all other bards, learning two spells from ANY class.

College of Hope

This is a healer Bard and it is a pretty decent option for a party healer.

Subclass rating: Good

Features:

• Healing Ballad (level 3): Improves Song of Rest by adding Charisma modifier to the amount healed, but also grants the same amount of what Song of Rest heals as Temporary HP.

• Wandering Healer (level 3): In your list and always prepared:

  • Level 3: Prayer of Healing

  • Level 6: Mass Healing Word and Revivify

• Words of Hope (level 6): Bardic Inspiration also heals for an amount equal to Song of Rest whenever it targets an ally below half of their max health.

College of Heroism

Some additional support features for the Bard, though it doesn’t really expand their normal capabilities.

Subclass rating: Good

Features:

• Bolster Morale (level 3): Bardic Inspiration rolls are made at advantage.

• Heroic Tale (level 3): Grants immunity to fear effects and advantage on all saving throws to one ally with 6 cells for 1 minute.

• Thundering Voice (level 6): Whenever granting Bardic Inspiration to an ally, also deal 1d8 + Charisma modifier thunder damage to the closest enemy within 12 cells and impose disadvantage on their next attack roll.

College of Tradition (Lost Valley)

You get Mage Armor as a cantrip and a riposte feature. I don’t know what this subclass is meant to be, but it is still a Bard and Bards are good. The skill checks would be nice in a tabletop game, but they are mostly wasted in Solasta. And getting the equivalent of Studded Leather +1 for free at lvl 3 isn’t awful.

Subclass rating: Average

Features:

• Aura of Preeminence (level 3): Intimidation and Insight checks less than 10 are treated as a 10.

• Ancient Tradition (level 3): Ability to cast Mage Armor on themselves at will.

• Verbal Onslaught (level 6): Whenever taking damage from an enemy, you can use your reaction to use Bardic Inspiration to deal 2x your bardic inspiration die + Charisma modifier in psychic damage and stun the enemy on a failed Intelligence saving throw (half damage on a successful save).

Druid (Primal Calling)

These furries have the second best spell list in all of D&D 5e in my humble opinion and possibly the best spell list in Solasta since so many great Wizard spells focus on out of combat usefulness.

In a fight, Druids are primarily control and support casters and they are really good at it. But they also don’t have the absurd defensive traits of other casters, so they feel much more fair than a Wizard does.

Overall class rating: Good

Class highlights

• Amazing spell list up to 6th lvl

Circle of the Land

Here is a Druid that gets bonus spells depending on their preferred environment and can regain spellslots like a Wizard can. What more is there to say? Make sure to read the bonus spell lists carefully, since some environments are better than others. I recommend Grassland, Coast and Arctic, in that order. 

Subclass rating: Great

Features:

• Bonus Cantrip (level 2): Learn a druid cantrip of your choice.

• Natural Recovery (level 2): Once per day when you complete a Short Rest, you can recover a number of expended spell slots (max 5th level) up to half of your druid level, rounded up.

• Circle Spells (level 2): Select a terrain type that grants a range of spells that are always treated as prepared: Forest, Grassland, Mountain, Swamp, Desert, Coast or Arctic.

  • Instead of listing everything, here is the bonus spell lists to save space

• Land’s Stride (level 6): Moving through difficult terrain does not cost extra movement, and you are immune to magical plants that impede movement, such as those created by the Entangle or Spike Growth spells.

• Nature’s Ward (level 10): You are immune to charm or fear effects caused by elementals or fey, as well as to poison and disease.

Circle of the Kindred Spirit

I’m usually not a fan of subclasses that add on a companion that isn’t supported by the core class, since I find they get too few mechanics to take advantage of having 2 bodies. Kindred Spirits also get a significant penalty should the companion die, since it will stun you. Overall, I think this brings the overall quality of the Druid down.

Subclass rating: Average

Features: 

• Spirit Choice (level 2): Choose a spirit to bond to. Grants a bonus to the bonded druid. There are five spirits to chose from.

• Spirit Call (level 2): Use an action to call your kindred spirit to a spot within 6 cells. If the spirit dies, you must complete a long rest before you can call it again.

• Spirit Bond (level 2): Your kindred spirit has the following features:

  • proficiency bonuses same as druid's proficiency bonuses;

  • attack roll: druid's melee spell attack;

  • saving throws same as druids' saving throws;

  • Intelligence is always 8;

  • advantage on attacks against enemies engaged with the druid or the druid's allies;

  • if the kindred spirit dies, the druid sustains 3d6 psychic damage and is stunned for the remainder of the turn, unless unconscious;

  • after a short rest, the kindred spirit regains the same amount of HP as the druid does from spending hit dice.

• Magical Spirit (level 6): The attacks of the kindred spirit are considered magical. Furthermore, each time you heal yourself, the healing trickles down to your kindred spirit, letting it regain an amount of HP equal to your spellcasting ability bonus.

• Shared Pain (level 10): As a reaction, the damage inflicted to the druid or the kindred spirit can be shared equally among both.

Circle of the Winds

You get some additional mobility and support capabilities apart from your spellcasting, which is neat.

Subclass rating: Good

Features:

• Carried by the Wind (level 3): Casting a spell of level 1 makes you automatically take the disengage action for free and gain an additional 2 cells of movement speed until the end of your turn.

• Sheltering Breeze (level 6): You can use a bonus action to let Sheltering Breeze blow upon all allies within 6 cells of you. All affected creatures (including yourself) have advantage on all saving throws until the start of your next turn. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (you regain uses after finishing a Long Rest).

• Guiding Winds (level 10): Whenever you hit an enemy with an attack roll, the next attack roll against them before the end of your next turn is made with advantage.

Circle of Balance (Lost Valley)

This is the best healer in the game and the competition isn’t even close. Not only do you add your Druid lvl to any healing done with spells, but it happens over 2 turns so if a creature is knocked down to 0 hp before their turn again, they get right back up.

Subclass rating: Great

Features:

• Circle of Balance Spells (level 2): In your list and always prepared:

  • Level 3: Prayer of Healing, Calm Emotions

  • Level 5: Mass Healing Word, Revivify

  • Level 7: Banishment, Blight

  • Level 9: Mass Cure Wounds, Cloudkill

• Gift of Life (level 2): Whenever you use a spell of level 1 or higher to restore HP to a creature, they also heal an additional amount of HP equal to your level at the start of your next turn.

• Survival of the Wisest (level 6): Your spells are more effective against the creatures you already faced. You gain a bonus equal to half your knowledge level (rounded up) to your spell DC and spell attack modifier against them.

• Cold Embrace (level 10): Whenever you damage your target with a spell, they become unable to heal any HP until the start of your next turn.

Cleric

Old school healers and melee/magic characters, the Cleric is a powerful hybrid character with a great deal of versatility coming from their domains. They have more subclasses than anyone else and can range from frontline battlemagi to support casters to blasters.

Overall class rating: Good

Cleric domain spell lists.

Class highlights

• Spellcasting up to 6th level

• Versatile Domain spell lists

• Channel Divinity

Elemental Domain (Fire / Frost / Shock)

A great option for a caster cleric, with added support, mobility and damage spells. You get a cantrip for your element, which is usually better than Sacred Flame for dealing a bit of damage, but the strength of the Elemental domain is their spellcasting.

Subclass rating: Great

Feature:

• Primal Harmony (level 1): Resistance to Fire/Cold/Lightnng: damage is halved

• Bonus Cantrip (level 1): Fire Bolt, Ray of Frost or Shoching Grasp

• Channel Divinity (level 2): 

  • Fire Burst: Channel Divinity to cause 3d8 fire damage tea target within 12 cells. A successful Dexterity save halves the damage.

  • Ice Lance: Use Channel Divinity on a target within 12 cells. The target must make a Dexterity saving throw or be pushed away by 2 cells and suffer 2d8 cold damage.

  • Lightning Blade: Channel Divinity to cause 1d8 lightning damage to a target within 12 cells. On a failed Dexterity save, the target is also stunned until the end of its next turn.

• Scholar of the Elements (level 6): Use your reaction to become immune to your domain element. It heals you instead of wounding you.

• Call Upon… (level 8): 

  • … Fire: The target suffers fire damage and must succeed at Strength save or be pushed. Can be used a number of times equal to your Wisdom bonus until a Long Rest.

  • … Cold: The target suffers cold damage and must succeed with at Strength save or become restrained until the end of its next turn. Can be used a number of times equal to your Wisdom bonus until a Long Rest.

  • … Thunder: The creature in the area must succeed with a Constitution save or suffer thunder damage and become restrained until the end of their next turn. Can be used a number of times equal to your Wisdom bonus until a Long Rest.

Sun Domain

Sun Clerics are, like Elemental Clerics, casters first and foremost. They get a neat little upgrade to the Sacred Flame cantrip, but it still isn’t going to be as good as Firebolt or Ray of Frost, since targeting AC is usually much more reliable than dexterity saving throws.

The spell list is decent, but not fantastic. The most standout spell is Hypnotic Pattern, which is amazing.

Subclass rating: Good

Features:

• Holy Radiance (level 1): When you cast Sacred Flame, your target has a disadvantage on the saving throw.

• Bonus Cantrip (level 1): Light

• Channel Divinity: Herald of the Sun (level 2): Channel Divinity to engulf a visible enemy within 5 cells in radiant light, causing 1d8 radiant damage +2 per cleric level (half damage on a successful Constitution saving throw) and cause the blinded condition for 1 minute (negated if saving throw was successful).

• Channel Divinity: Indomitable Light (level 6): Channel Divinity to summon a sphere of sunlight, which affects light sensitive creatures and negates areas of darkness.

• Soothing Hand (level 6): Heal an ally and remove one detrimental condition (Stunned, Blinded or Frightened only).

• Divine Strike (level 8): +1d8 radiant damage on weapon attacks, once per turn.

Battle Domain

These Clerics are battlemagi in the truest sense, mastering both martial and magical combat. They get temporary HP, smite, an interesting selection of arcane spells, a minor aura and multiattack.

Subclass rating: Great

Features:

• Bonus Proficiency (level 1): Martial Weapons

• Divine Fortitude (level 1): As an action, gain 3 temporary HP per cleric level. Recovered after a Long Rest.

• Battle Magic (level 1): Can cast spells with a somatic component without a free hand, provided a weapon or shield is being wielded.

• Decisive Strike (level 2): On a successful attack, Channel Divinity to add 1d6 to your damage and stun your target (save negates). Increases by 1d6 every 3 cleric levels above level 2.

• Herald of Battle (level 6): Allies in adjacent cells gain +1 on attack rolls, damage, AC, and saving throws.

• Scholar of Battle (level 8): You can attack one more time, per combat turn, when you use the attack or shove actions.

Law Domain

These Clerics are caster tanks, using their abilities to control and deny enemies their actions. Not only do they get both Shield and Counterspell, but they can also use their Channel Divinity to impose disadvantage on saving throws against their spells.

Subclass rating: Great

Features:

• Commanding Presence (level 1): Proficient in Intimidation. Advantage on Intimidation checks.

• Unyielding Enforcer (level 1): Advantage on rolls to resist being shoved or moved by magical means.

• Channel Divinity: Holy Retribution (level 2): When a melee attack damages you, you can use your reaction to Channel Divinity and strike back using a melee weapon, adding 2d6 + cleric level psychic damage.

• Channel Divinity: Force of Law (level 2): Channel Divinity when casting an attack spell to impose disadvantage on your targets saving throw.

• Word of the Law (level 6): Break the spellcasting concentration of an enemy.

• Anathema (level 8): Restrains a creature and inflicts force damage every turn until it succeeds with a WIS save or 1 minute has passed.

Life Domain

This is the most standard cleric possible, with a focus on healing and being a martial caster. They get heavy armor which makes it easier to skip dexterity as a stat, but their domain spells don’t give them anything outside the normal cleric list. Overall, a solid choice for a party healer that can take a hit and give one back.

Subclass rating: Good

Features:

• Bonus Proficiency (level 1): Proficient with Heavy Armor.

• Disciple of Life (level 1): When casting a healing spell, the target regains additional HP equal to 2× spell level.

• Channel Divinity: Preserve Life (level 2): Restore hit points (5× cleric level) to one or more allies within 6 cells, up to half their hit point maximum.

• Blessed Healer (level 6): When you cast a spell of 1st level or higher that restores hit points to a creature other than yourself, you regain hit points equal to 2× spell level.

• Divine Strike (level 8): +1d8 radiant damage on weapon attacks, once per turn.

Oblivion Domain

These death clerics are a hybrid between a caster and martial cleric, with an interesting spell list and some features to make weapon use more viable. They also get the neat feature of preventing the party from being caught asleep when camping, though you can still be caught by surprise on occasion.

Subclass rating: Good

Features:

• Gate Keeper (level 1): As long as you are conscious, you and your fellow party members within 6 cells have advantage on death saving throws.

• Bonus Cantrip (level 1): Chill Touch

• Channel Divinity: Herald of Pain (level 2): Channel Divinity to cause pain to enemies within 6 cells. Enemies failing a Wisdom save receive 1d8 necrotic damage and are poisoned.

• Peaceful Rest (level 2): While camping, reduces the chances of being attacked and prevents from being surprised.

• Strike of Oblivion (level 6): +1d6 necrotic damage on your first attack of your turn.

• Mark of Fate (level 8): Mark a creature you see, so it receives additional damage from each attack.

Insight Domain

I want to like casters with a knowledge theme, but frankly the Insight Domain isn’t very good. With a couple of exceptions, none of the spells are worthwhile and the same goes for their features. They are still clerics though, so they are fully capable of being valuable team members.

Subclass rating: Average

Features:

• Divine Intuition (level 1): Advantage on ability checks using Arcana, History, and Nature.

• Inspired Diplomat (level 1): You always know the odds when choosing between dialog choices that include an Skill Check (Persuasion, Deception, or Intimidation).

• Channel Divinity: Foreknowledge (level 2): Channel Divinity to see the immediate future and dodge your enemy's attacks better. For 1 minute, the first attack (except shove) made against you after your turn suffers disadvantage.

• Divine Eye (level 6): Advantage on checks to detect traps, hidden doors, and objects.

• Divine Lore (level 8): You know all languages, written and spoken. In addition, you can identify a magical item once per Long Rest.

Mischief Domain (Lost Valley)

These guys are like a caster cleric and a martial cleric in one, with a fantastic spell list and strong martial capabilities to boot. They also get Stealth proficiency for free, which is a really good skill proficiency in Solasta now that they’ve fixed the stealth / surprise interaction.

This is about as safe a bet as a Cleric can be, because they can do everything. 

Subclass rating: Great

Features:

• Trickster (level 1): Gain proficiency in Stealth and Deception.

• Borrowed Luck (level 1): After failing a saving throw (if you didn't have a disadvantage), you can use a reaction to reroll that saving throw. If you succeed, you will have a disadvantage on your next saving throw.

• Channel Divinity: Strike of Chaos (level 2): When hitting a target with a weapon attack, you can Channel Divinity to deal additional psychic damage (1d6 + additional 1d6 for every 3 spell levels above level 2) for every and inflict a random condition from the following list: disadvantage on attack rolls, Blinded, Restrained, Paralyzed, none. The condition is only inflicted if the target fails a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. The target repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns – on a successful one, the condition ends, otherwise it stays in effect for 1 minute.

• Elusive Target (level 6): When hit with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to gain the benefits of both Dodge and Disengage until the end of your next turn.

• Divine Strike (level 8): Once on each of your turns, when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can deal additional 1d8 psychic damage to it. The damage is increased to 2d8 when you reach level 14.

Warlock (Inner Strength)

Warlocks are one of my favorite classes in 5e, having more build options than most characters through a combination of their Patron, Invocations and Pact. In Solasta, they have 2 primary builds that can have a great deal of variation depending on what Patron, spells and invocations you choose to go with them: Blastlock and Bladelock.

• Blastlocks focus on Eldritch Blast with the Agonizing Blast Invocation for a solid ranged damage dealer that follows the Fighter multiattack progression, but can cast powerful spells. 

  • Blastlocks are usually better at using control spells than Bladelocks because they aren’t expected to be in as much danger.

• Bladelocks focus on weapon usage with the Pact of the Blade and Thirsting Blade, either in melee or at range.

  • Bladelocks scale with magic weapons better than Blastlocks do.

Because of this variance in builds available to all subclasses, each of them will get a separate rating for Blastlock and Bladelock. 

Both options play like something between a half-caster (Paladin, Ranger) and a full caster (Wizard, Cleric etc). They don’t get many spellslots, but they do get higher lvl spells than the half-casters, and they can usually do more without spending resources than full casters.

Overall class rating: Good

List of Invocations.

Class highlights:

• Spellcasting up to 6th level

• Invocations

• Pacts

• Devil Sight let’s you see in magical darkness and even invisible creatures

The Fiend

You sold your soul to the devil and now you’re more than mortal. Fiend Warlocks get a number of defensively oriented features and their spell list adds blasting spells that are useful at the time, and you can trade up as you go for even better versions.

Between getting damage resistance and continued generation of temporary hp as you kill things, the Fiend is fantastic for Bladelocks. 

Subclass rating:

Blastlock: Good

Bladelock: Great

Features:

• Expanded Spell List: The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

  • Spell Level 1: Burning Hands, Bane

  • Spell Level 2: Blindness, Scorching Ray

  • Spell Level 3: Fireball, Stinking Cloud

  • Spell Level 4: Fire Shield, Wall of Fire

  • Spell Level 5: Flame Strike, Contagion

• Dark One's Blessing (level 1): Whenever you reduce a hostile creature to 0 HP, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier + your Warlock level.

• Dark One's Own Luck (level 6): For the next minute add 1d10 to all ability checks and saving throws. You regain this ability after a long rest.

• Fiendish Resilience (level 10): You gain resistance to non-magical non-silver damage of a type of your choosing which lasts until you choose a different type with this feature. You can change the damage type when you finish a short or long rest.

  • Most enemies do not use magical weapons, meaning that you will usually get resistance to their attacks if you choose the correct physical type.

The Hive

These Warlocks are really good at setting up for control effects, either for themselves or allied casters. As you damage people with your spells, they get disadvantage on their saving throws, which can get out of hand quickly. You also get a free usage of Counterspell once per short rest, which is really good, but they have little to offer a Bladelock.

Subclass rating:

Blastlock: Great

Bladelock: Average

Features:

• Expanded Spell List: The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

  • Spell Level 1: Detect Poison and Disease, Inflict Wounds

  • Spell Level 2: Acid Arrow, Calm Emotions

  • Spell Level 3: Lightning Bolt, Stinking Cloud

  • Spell Level 4: Giant Insect, Stoneskin

  • Spell Level 5: Cloudkill, Insect Plague

• Level 1

• Weakening Pheromones (level 1): Whenever you damage an enemy with a spell, they have disadvantage on their next saving throw.

• Magic Counter (level 6): You can Counterspell once per short rest for free. You add your proficiency bonus when countering spells 4th level or higher.

• Reactive Carapace (level 10): Whenever you take damage from a spell or magical effect, you gain 1d8 + Charisma modifer in temporary HP until the start of your next turn.

The Timekeeper

These Warlocks are the reverse of Fiends; they get features to benefit Blastlocks and spells to benefit Bladelocks. Curse of Time is a passable dot, but will only ever do 1-2 dmg per tick and so it is most notable for helping us disrupt enemy concentration more than the dmg they do.

Subclass rating:

Blastlock: Good

Bladelock: Good

Features:

• Expanded Spell List: The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

  • Spell Level 1: Longstrider, Magic Missile

  • Spell Level 2: Blur, Calm Emotions

  • Spell Level 3: Haste, Slow

  • Spell Level 4: Greater Invisibility, Phantasmal Killer

  • Spell Level 5: Raise Dead, Dominate Person

• Curse of Time (level 1): Whenever you damage an opponent with a spell, they become afflicted with the Curse of Time. Enemies under the Curse of Time take half your proficiency bonus (rounded up) force damage at the start of their turn for the next minute.

• Time Shift (level 6): After you take damage, you can use your reaction to revert time. You briefly disappear in a time rift and heal back the damage received. You are considered banished until the start of your next turn. After you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you complete a long rest.

• Accelerate (level 10): You can use a bonus action to briefly accelerate an ally other than yourself within 6 cells. They gain the effect of Haste until the start of your next turn; however, they do not suffer from lethargy when Accelerate ends. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.

The Tree (Lost Valley)

You think Druids are obnoxious treehuggers? These warlocks sold their souls to hug trees! In all seriousness, Treelocks are really good casters as they get automatic retaliation on melee dmg, resistance to some really good magical dmg types and their spell list is simply amazing. They don’t get much to support Bladelocks though.

Subclass rating:

Blastlock: Great

Bladelock: Average

Features:

• Expanded Spell List: The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

  • Spell Level 1: Entangle, Fog Cloud

  • Spell Level 2: Barkskin, Spike Growth

  • Spell Level 3: Bestow Curse, Conjure Animal

  • Spell Level 4: Confusion, Phantasmal Killer

  • Spell Level 5: Contagion, Dominate Person

• Piercing Branches (level 1): Whenever you are damaged by a melee attack, you inflict 1d6 piecing damage back on the enemy.

• Blessing of the Tree (level 6): Grants immunity to poison effects and resistance to poison and necrotic damage.

• Explosive Growth (level 10): Once per short rest, you can inflict 1d4 piercing damage on all the enemies surrounding you, shoving and restraining them on a failed Dexterity saving throw.

Sorcerer

A pure arcane caster class that has the third best spell list in the game, beaten only by Wizards and Druids. They get metamagic to enhance their magic, making them insanely powerful control and support casters with the correct selection of features.

Overall class rating: Good

Class highlights:

• Spellcasting up to 6th level

• Metamagic

Draconic Bloodline

Your ancestor is a D&D meme, so now you got magical powers running through your veins. In tabletop, Draconic isn’t that great, but they got a little something they were missing in Solasta: bloodline spells. And I’ll be damned if it isn’t a good list. All of the spells are not only good, but you’d probably take all of them on another sorcerer too.

You also get some additional features, like better AC and +1 hp per level, but these are barely worth mentioning next to their great spell list. Which says how good it is.

Subclass rating: Great

Features:

• Draconic Bloodline Origin Spells: In your list and always prepared:

  • Level 1: Shield

  • Level 3: Misty Step

  • Level 5: Counterspell

  • Level 7: Greater Invisibility

  • Level 9: Hold Monster

• Dragon Ancestor Choice (level 1): Select the type of dragon (and associated damage type) of your ancestor. Your dragonic ancestry grants you affinity to a specific damage type:

  • Black Ancestor – Acid

  • Gold Ancestor – Fire

  • Green Ancestor – Poison

  • Silver Ancestor – Cold

  • Blue Ancestry – Lightning

• Draconic Knowledge (level 1): You speak Draconic.

• Draconic Resilience (level 1): You gain one additional hit point per level and your armor class is 13+ Dexterity bonus when you are not wearing armor.

• Elemental Affinity (level 6): When dealing spell damage matching your draconic ancestor, you add your Charisma modifier to the total.

• Draconic Resistance (level 6): You gain resistance to the damage type of your ancestor for an hour, at the cost of one sorcery point.

Mana Painter

While their spell list isn’t quite as universally great as Draconic, they have some really good spells no other Sorcerer get access to. Entangle is one of the best 1st lvl spells in the game. One of their most awesome features is their Mana Absorption though, which lets them use their Charisma in place of most other saves.

Subclass rating: Good

Features:

• Mana Painter Origin Spells: In your list and always prepared:

  • Level 1: Entangle

  • Level 3: Barkskin

  • Level 5: Sleet Storm

  • Level 7: Fire Shield

  • Level 9: Conjure Elemental

• Mana Absorption (level 1): Your Charisma modifier is used (if higher) instead of other ability modifiers on your saving throws against spells and other magic effects.

  • Actually seems to affect more than just saves against spells. This may or may nor be a bug or oversight.

• Mana Drain (level 2): Make a melee spell attack. On a successful hit, the target creature takes 1d10 + your charisma modifier Force Damage, and you regain 1 Sorcery Point. You need to take a Short Rest to recover this power.

• Mana Tap (level 6): When you finish a Short Rest, you can regain a number of Sorcery points equal to half your Sorcerer levels (rounded up). You must complete a Long Rest to use this ability again.

Child of the Rift

The Cataclysm ravaged the world and your bloodline, leaving you with powers of light and dark. You get access to some great spells, but the class features leave something to be desired. They are uniquely positioned to be blaster caster since Guiding Bolt is so good, but that is a less useful archetype than more control oriented casters.

Subclass rating: Good

Features:

• Child of the Rift Origin Spells: In your list and always prepared:

  • Level 1: Guiding Bolt

  • Level 3: Aid

  • Level 5: Daylight

  • Level 7: Banishment

  • Level 9: Greater Restoration

• Rift Magic (level 1): Immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of level t to 5, roll 1d20. If you roll a 20, your spell slot is not spent.

• Rift Deflection (level 2): You can use your Bonus Action to spend 1 sorcery point to become harder to hit and achieve better saving throws, until the start of your next turn.

• Offering to the Rift (level 6): You can use your Bonus Action to sacrifice 5 Hit Points, in order to regain immediately one sorcery point. The sacrificed Hit Points are recovered after a Long Rest.

Haunted Soul (Lost Valley)

While off to a bit of a slow start on their spell list, they do get a very useful bonus action to spam, which makes them very fun to use. Later on, they get useful spells and can put down an AoE dot for area control.

Subclass rating: Good

Features:

• Haunted Soul Origin Spells: In your list and always prepared:

  • Level 1: Inflict Wounds

  • Level 3: Ray of Enfeeblement

  • Level 5: Fear

  • Level 7: Phantasmal Killer

  • Level 9: Mind Twist

• Spirit Visage (level 1): You can use a bonus action to attempt to scare an enemy you can see within 6 cells of you. The target must make a successful Wisdom saving throw, or they will have a disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls until the start of your next turn. This power can be used a number of times equal to your proficiency modifier per a long rest.

• Vengeful Spirits (level 6): You can use a bonus action to call forth the spirits inside you for up to 1 minute. You target a 3×3 cells square area, that you can see, within 18 cells and fill it with vengeful spirits. Any hostile creature entering or starting their turn in the area takes 2d6 + your Charisma modifier necrotic damage (half that on a successful Charisma saving throw). Each turn, you can use a bonus action to move the vengeful spirits' area by up to 6 cells. The power can be used once per a long rest and additional times by spending 4 sorcery points.

Wizard

The old school arcane magic user, channeling magic through spelltomes and favoring versatility over sheer power. Wizards are great, simple as. 

Overall class rating: Great

Class highlights

• Best spell list in the game, up to 6th level

• Only arcane caster to change spells on a long rest

• Arcane Recovery

• Scribe Scrolls to spellbook

Shock Arcanist

A blaster wizard and a pretty decent one. Everything you get is geared towards increasing your damage with magic, which is really powerful early on, but tends to fall off as you reach higher levels. Still, a bit more power behind wizard spellcasting is powerful and a worthwhile option. And they get Constitution saving throws for free later, which is useful to keep concentration on your spells.

Subclass rating: Great

Features:

• Arcane Warfare (level 2): When casting spells from the War list, they count as being cast at one slot level higher than the one you actually use: Burning Hands, Magic Missile, Thunderwave, Acid Arrow, Scorching Ray, Flaming Sphere, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Ice Storm, Cone of Cold, Mind Twist, Disintegrate, Chain Lightning, Freezing Sphere.

• Arcane Fury (level 6): Add your proficiency bonus and INT bonus to your evocation spell damage for 1 minute, including spells cast from items. Recharges after a Long Rest.

• Arcane Shock (level 10): You overcharge your mana and become restrained until the end of your turn. However, when you cast an attack spell, your damage dice are always above average. In return, you make a Constitution saving throw DC 14 and take 2d6 psychic damage if you fail.

• Wizard Saving Throw Proficiencies (level 10): Constitution.

Loremaster

Loremaster is the weakest Wizard subclass by a clear margin, but here is the thing: It’s still great. The basic features of a Wizard are so good that not getting good features isn’t enough to knock it down to the level of everyone else.

Subclass rating: Great

Features:

• Keen Mind (level 2): Advantage on Arcana, History, and Investigation ability checks. Advantage on checks to copy scrolls to your spellbook. Scroll and potion crafting costs and times are halved.

• Spell Academic (level 6): You learn one additional spell each time you gain a level.

• Arcane Lore (level 10): You can add your Proficiency Bonus to the number of spells you can memorize. You also learn two additional cantrips from the Wizard's list.

Court Mage (Lost Valley)

Take a basic Wizard, give it a shield for extra defense and the option to give themselves and their allies a large amount of temporary hp and, for good measure, make their Counterspells better. Yeah… this is an overpowered character and only overshadowed by the last option on this list.

Subclass rating: Overpowered

Features:

• Always Prepared (level 2): You gain proficiency with shields and the Protection Fighting Style, which allows you to use your reaction to impose disadvantage on an attack roll made against an ally next to you, provided you are wielding a shield.

• Spell Shield (level 2): You can use an action to create a powerful shield around yourself and an ally you can see within 6 cells of you, granting both temporary HP equal to 5 times your level for up to 1 hour. This power can be used twice per a long rest.

• Counterspell Mastery (level 6): You gain advantage on your spellcasting checks when casting Counterspell against spells of level 4 or higher. Additionally, enemies have a disadvantage on their spellcasting checks when attempting to Counterspell any of your spells.

• Improved Spell Shield (level 10): While under the protection of your Spell Shield, creatures gain advantage on all saving throws against spells and magic effects. If the Spell Shield reaches 0 HP, it can't absorb damage anymore, but the magic remains for a full hour.

Greenmage

Let me try to paint the picture of what this subclass is: This is a wizard that gets light armor and shortbow proficiency, the archery fighting style and picks up a favored terrain from the Ranger class. At lvl 6 they can entangle enemies on bow attacks, and at 10th lvl they can reduce ranged damage taken by 50%.

These features would make for a pretty good martial bowmage on their own with the regular wizard spell list, but on the Greenmage these features are just the flavorful ribbon features that don’t have much of an effect on how powerful they are. That is, quite frankly, insane.

Their real power, and what makes them the overall most powerful character in the game, is that they take everything about the Wizard spell list and turn it up to 11. You get every Wizard spell and a number of spells from the Ranger and Druid spell list to boot, giving them literally unmatched versatility.

Subclass rating: Overpowered

Features:

• Green Magic (level 2): Spells from the Green Magic list are considered wizard spells for you: Animal Friendship, Detect Poison and Disease, Entangle, Faerie Fire, Goodberry, Hunter's Mark, Longstrider, Barkskin, Pass Without Trace, Lesser Restoration, Find Traps, Protection from Poison, Conjure Animal, Create Food, Daylight, Wind Wall, Giant Insect, Freedom of Movement, Identify Creatures, Contagion, Insect Plague.

• Smithing (level 2):  You are trained to craft basic ammunition with Smith's Tools: arrows and bolts.

• Warden of the Forest (level 2): Proficiency: Light armor. Proficiency: Shortbow. Fighting Style: Archery. Natural Explorer: You benefit from the same advantages as Rangers when in a forest environment.

• Entangling Shot (level 6): Your arrow can transform into a vine on impact. The target must make a Strength saving throw or be restrained until the end of your next turn. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum 1). All uses recharge at the end of a Long Rest.

• Leaf Scales (level 10): When an attacker that you can see hits you with a ranged attack or spell, you can use your reaction to halve the attack's damage against you.

I disagree with your Monk analysis so strongly it's nearly hilarious.

It's funny that you stick with such prejudgements when we're speaking of it in the context of Solasta, where developers actually use EVERYTHING designed to make interesting and varied environment.

Overall class rating: great

On "theorical" offense

01/ They start with two full attacks per turn, 1d8 on main Attack (think of adjusting equipment for quarterstaff or buy one ASAP) and 1d4, which is equal on average to a starting dual-wielder Fighter/Ranger (which means better armor than them) and equal or slightly better on average to any other martial. So they are actually better than two-handers since more chance to at least deal *some* damage.

02/ Just after they get Extra Attack, they also get magical strikes, so while they won't be able to use magic items for their bonus action unarmed/Flurry, they still get full damage without needing to find two weapons. In Solasta this is actually negligible since you find LOTs of magic weapons and it's also easy enough to craft them (plus devs actually implemented special magic Monk weapons that should work on Unarmed normally.. On tabletop it's a massive boon. ^^

With that said, nothing forbids you either to use magic weapons in both hands if you have a spare one that no other martial needs. If you tend to not use Flurry of Blows that often because you keep it for everything else it's a nice tradeoff by bumping "resource-free bonus action attack". And you still can use Flurry as needed, since kicks are valid.

On practical offense (aka what happens in actual fights, especially in Solasta)

03/ Compared to other STR martials, IF they want to melee, they get native mobility boost that allow them to reach enemies when other would need to Dash or resort to thrown weapons (just ensure you get at least 10 STR and Athletics proficiency, or you'll suffer on jumps/climbs which are prominent in Solasta and may need Step of the Wind to avoid checks on medium jumps). Step of the Wind boosts this like crazy.

04/ Compared to other martials, IF they want to use ranged attacks, they have shortbow proficiency and higher base stat so apart from Archery Fighters/Rangers they outmatch STR and equate DEX ones.

05/ Compared to dual-wielders or PAM (tabletop, don't remember Solasta equivalent) they *don't need to make melee attack to enable Flurry* they just need to take the Attack action. Meaning you can Attack with your ranged weapon, then depending on result close in to initial target to finish it or instead move to another target to use Flurry upon. This is a *massive* boon in tactical decision flexibility.

Just with those points, I've seen at least 1 on 3 rounds every day on average where a "main" melee martial had no other option than move and Ready a single melee attack because even thrown attacks were not worth it (disadvantage because beyond 20 feet range), or at best throw both weapons then swap for "non-throwable" and hope enemy will come to him. Or swap to a full ranged weapon with (usually) much lesser efficiency past level 6-7 and lose access to opportunity attacks or extra armor from shield until next round.

Meanwhile Monk could simply reach enemy straight up with normal movement turn one and bash him, or just take a shot while moving in to another, or maybe bonus Dash to instantly cross all batltefield and threaten backliner.

This proved especially useful in some battles like Dark Castle one with many archers because those are not stupid and would always move back while shooting from advantageous position. Without Monk to chase and focus on them with near 0 damage taken, party would have suffered heavy loss.

People saying that Step of the Wind is useless are, sorry to say, just speaking without thinking. Especially when you have Extra Attack and a good melee magic weapon, when Step of the Wind is what allows you to get into melee range (and you can manage the associated threat), it means it's as efficient as taking Flurry of Blows if not better because otherwise you'd need to resort to ranged weapon (possibly not magical) with no bonus action.

06/ Compared to fully DEX ranged martials, they have more speed to avoid having enemies catching up (with option to Disengage if needed) and still get ability to make unarmed attacks and opportunity attacks without needing to swap weapons (well, in tabletop rules. In practice with current implementation if you have a bow in main hand you cannot Unarmed Strike with Attack, unless I missed something).

This is also important quite more often than one could think. When you have an enemy that managed to get close to you, harmed enough that you could probably finish it with one good attack, while others are far beyond melee range, you can a) make ranged attacks at disadvantage and possibly deal 0 damage b) switch to melee set and possibly lose the potential of 2nd attack because not allowed to switch back in case first hit was enough.

Enemies in Solasta are reasonably smart, far more than many enemies run by DM in tabletop games actually. XD They Shove prone and to fall, try to avoid OAs, try to target most hurt or lowest AC character (with priorities readjusting depending on things like disadvantage from what I've seen), keep away from PC if they are better at ranged attacks.

Monk can seamlessly harass archers, draw enemies away then fast track to PC (Disengage+Dash or Dash+Dash) so allied caster can affect the group with an AOE: been there, done that several times. Getting to near-kill two Minotaurs that went straight into precast Spike Growth  while Monk first aggroed them then Triple Dashed around in a curve so their targeting line would cross 90% of the spikes. Drawing enemies that were scattered by rushing into a room then backtracking to make Hypnotic Pattern or Fireball worth attempting.

07/ They have Stunning Strike in their base set

So I won't say Stunning Strike is overpowered nor will I praise it "like a goodkiller" like some do. It's "just great", as in "perfectly balanced feature that allows you to push the slider for more reliability at the price of more Ki (more attempts)". 

It's exactly like a Sorcerer using debuff like Blindness or Hold Person with or without Heightened, except with more granularity. If you want a soft bet, make one attempt and see what happens. If you consider it vital and can hit reliably enough, pour everything and consider it done except very bad luck streak.

Like any caster with spells like Hypnotic Pattern or Slow, I've seen lucky "first attempt stun" on heavy creatures, as I've seen casters resist two attempts (once time three) in a row, and everything in between. Still saved my party quite a few times.

On defense

08/ They start with 16 AC unless you mess with attributes for some (good or bad) reason, which is best than any other martial. Except STR Fighter with a shield equipped.

09/ Once you get past level 3, their Patient Defense allow them to stand through a chain of 4-5 attacks of average enemies, while Step of the Wind allows them to attack AND move away without trouble whereas everyone else except Rogue would need to choose either (except a raging Stone Barbarian. Those don't need to choose, terrifying resilience xd).

10/ Deflect Arrows consistently avoids me a minimum of 1/3 of my max HP, every day. Emphasis on minimum. Sometimes Monk can get unscathed from a dozen shots over a few rounds by combining Patient Defense, Deflect Arrows and using one archer as cover against another. Especially precious when chasing them or rushing to a caster.

11/ Slow Fall is situational but is nice to have when fighting on some ledges or upwalls, because enemies never hesitate to Shove if they feel it's advantageous (I've seen for example Bandit shove a PC down a guard tower, dealing 12 auto damage in process and giving advantage to his three pals down like you throw a bone to a dog xd).

12/ At level 7, Evasion makes them withstand AOE that would kill most characters except sturdiest martials or ones with Absorb Elements.

On utility

13/ Natural Dex and total incompatibility with scrolls make them natural candidate for Thieves Tools, and even with low INT you can at least craft basic arrows and poisons it just takes significantly more time compared to a caster.

14/ Step of the Wind also prevents the use of Jump (-> Goodberry/Entangle for Ranger/Druid, Shield/Magic Missile for Wizard) or even more costly Misty Step for 80% of "puzzle chests", as long as you don't have negative Strength (12 is perfect balance if you don't want to wait for magic items).

15/ That combined with defensive features and mobiity boost make them great for scouting and surviving (just avoid making the same mistake as I did once, strolling around like a total low level tourist without being Hidden nor having at least one Ki left xd).

On magical items support

Let's put aside that devs lovingly crafted them several special items (accessory boosting Stunning Strike, crafterd "magic weapon" which I suspect affects Unarmed strikes although couldn't try it yet, Pendant boosting Ki although description is missing).

16/ You still have Amulet of Health (19 CON lot of health), Ring of Protection (more AC), Cloak of Protection (more defense), Rings of Striding and Jumping (maximize jumps), Spider shoes (to get a preview of what a level 9 Monk is, although you should prioritize your poor Barbarian/Mountaineer Fighter case arising), Belts of Giant Strength (MOAR jump, to litterally jump upon archers/casters that thought they were safe up there, Shove prone reliably for you and pals, Shove down cliff the ones that looked down on you for quick kill), Cloak of Displacment (permanent Dodge basically so less Ki on Patient Defense more on the rest), Empress Garb Chain Shirt / Bracers of Defense (+2 AC each), resistance-providing items, utility items...

15/ And of course all simple weapons (daggers, clubs, maces, quarterstaffs, shortswords) and bows: Medusa shortbow, Lightbringer, Whiteburn, Souldrink etc. Especially since daggers profit from Martial Arts so they end up doing 1d8 damage like Longswords, meaning you get actual use for them without needing to pump a specific class/archetype build like Swift Blade Ranger. Too bad for Quarterstaffs though, they are especially great in tabletop since you can multiclass (let's remind everyone staffs are technically quarterstaffs), here sadly you can't so it's just about +1 / +2 quarterstaffs mostly.

Still you have a lot, I mean, A LOT of options to fit your Monk.

And that's before starting consider archetype synergies (like Constitution 19 belt for Survival Monk) or more peculiar builds (didn't get hands on Wardenblade yet but if Spirit guardians effect lasts while being unwielded it can be absolutely crazy haha... Or if you don't have Wizard in starting party but other casters might as well plan on making Monk the Enchanter with later Headband of Intellect and related staff with properwhile Druid/Bard/Cleric/Sorcerer/Warlocks are pumping scrolls to maximize "party crafting efficiency").

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And that's before even grazing archetype features. Survival is an absolute beast (18 AC by level 3, 21-22 with Patient Defense which also provides advantage on Attack), Light is a must-have with ranged party because you can really play on the "asymetrical vision" advantage (Darkvision is 60 feet for most creatures), Freedom is good too (although the movement is probably overkill quite a few times xd but you certainly don't get hit often, perfect if you have other people to keep frontline), only Open Hand feels "meh" but that was already the case on tabletop, it's by far the weakest archetype until/unless you get Quivering Palm.

To the Monk comments, my answer is really quite simple:

Apply the same amount of build focus, item preference and play optimization to any of the martial classes ranked higher. They will outperform the Monk and notably so.

Edit: I might have time to get into more specifics later, but it really does seem to me that the "Monks are good" largely comes from the perspective of people who have spent a lot of time optimizing their Monk builds and gameplan without extending the same effort to other classes. So here are some additional comments I have time to make right now:

1. Having the same AC as a dual wielding Ranger at lvl 1 is not good. But it is worse on Monk because of the smaller hit dice. 
2. Having trouble keeping up with a Colossus Slayer build in terms of dmg from lvl 3 is a bit of a problem since CS isn't resource tied
3. Remember that everything you do as a Monk keep you from doing something else because of the shared resource, which is funny since there is a lot of gameplay overlap with Rogues who get everything for free.
4. They are competing with martial classes that get very powerful features, either through their spell lists (Ranger) or just in their basic kit (Paladin). 

Thanks for the list, helpful.   I wanted to weigh in on the Monk debate.   After playing 1000 hours and always having a Paladin cus they're so great (they are), I never want to see one ever again, even when BG3 when it comes out.    One can meta the game so much and analyze it down to the Nth degree, that it takes the joy out of it all.   Playing the monk for the first time, and its brought fun back to Solasta.   At level 5 and the Monk is a blast to play (this is Cat+Iron Man). 

I had been considering monk vs ranger, since they fill much the same niche. DEX/WIS build that synnergizes great with the lowlife background for getting the thief skills. I made a post about it some time ago. My general assessment was that rangers typically came out better. (Though rangers have the option of going STR based for a less optimal build). Sylvan elf ranger or monk lowlife can cover most of the necessary WIS skills and the DEX ones needed. 

Still, I generally found that rangers win out on monks. The spells for Ranger are quite nice to have, as are the other abilities. But there are a few stipulations, and I imagine clever use of the Ki stuff can boost monks up. Especially with how mobile monks are. They can easily play the run and shoot game with a longbow.

Other stipulations: Monks are more stat dependant than Rangers are, Rangers are generally better than monks on pointbuy but for dice-rolled stats, monks do get marginally better. AC, offense, and damage are split into DEX/WIS and the survival monk gets CON to damage. At the level you get it the monk may get a periapt of health, so that eases the issue without needing to roll extra points into CON, but it is a point.
The monk also operates better the worse gear is. If the campaign is loaded with powerful magic gear, the Ranger, since they use armor and a shield, get much better AC. If such things are more sparse, the Monk is going to win out there.

I typically think Ranger is better than a monk, but I can see where a Monk can work nicely too.