Do you have any ideas for an Echo Knight character? What race and backstory? Inspire us with your ideas! Pre-order today from D&D Beyond to receive exclusive bonus content! dndbeyond.link/wildemount
I can't stop thinking of the slightly horror-themed elements. Armies of 'Failed Futures', or areas of the world infested by temporal echos rather than ghosts, expanses of land with looping timelines. Oh boy, gonna tear into these mechanics.
Off the top of my head... Dion, the Wayfaring Knight Lawful Good Human Dion hails from the Shattered Teeth and was born into the "nobility" of the Ossended Hosts. He became a knight and was the recipient of the best training money could buy. Additionally, he became a student of experimental fighting techniques steeped in magic- the Krynn weren't the only ones to develop Dunamancy. He served as a highly-paid bodyguard for mercantile shipments until the hypocrisy of his country and the conflicts they participated in dawned on him: Was he really fighting for order, if that order then caused more conflict and wrought death on the innocent? His training as an Echo Knight taught him that there are many sides to every story, he knew there was a better way to resolve the myriad border disputes, and his "countrymen" were more concerned with profit than anything else. It disgusted him. He eventually bought passage out of the Shattered Teeth, toward an unknown destination. Anywhere else would be better than here, he thought.
@@TheArtisticGamer7 oh I'm so excited for eldritch knight with dunamacy AND echo knights, they sound like incredible concepts! Maybe their can be siblings or something, could have an interesting character is the worst happens
Sort of sounds like the Swarm Ranger, tbh. We might be in that timeline. Which is fine by me. edit: I found a press release on Tribality that suggests it's a Fighter. Oh well.
The fact that people in the comments are likening this to so many different characters is proof in itself that this idea deserved to be made into a subclass, IMO
I have an Astral Monk and I'm debating MC him into this LOL! Great minds eh? Or possibly giving it to my Tranquility Monk who can Sanctuary for 8 hours while off in the echo. Just love that whole Echo Knight class from dip to finish.
@@SneakattackMTG6833 watch anything beyond part 3, part 4 has normal shaped humans and everyone in pt. 5 and forward would make Matt look like a power lifter
From a Role Play perspective, there is an awesome amount of flavor available here. I would play every Echo having at least one distinctive alteration. Full range from different gender to different alignment. The fun part would be throwing things out there, without explaining fully what caused the differences.
There are so many awesome builds this class can help create: Zed and Ekko from League of Legends are the immediate thought, and plenty of people have already pointed out the JoJo possibility. I'm personally excited to finally build Isaac from Skullgirls.
"An Echo Knight is able to tap into those dying timelines and temporarily pull a version of themselves from that timeline" The nature of humanity is just that every so often someone accidentally invents Homestuck again.
Sweet Matt! I made an NPC just like this 2 years ago in one of my campaigns. A lot of people hoped I made a playable class or wanted more information on him when the campaign was over. Looking forward to where you drew inspiration from. From a Matt to another Matt, /salute
@@bronsonkim6652 dave returns from the future, but it's the same him just further down along the same timeline. aradia summons a bunch of other versions of herself that did not succeed to fight, its technically different
MATT BRILLIANT JOB ON ECHO KNIGHT.... the creative impetus to create such a meaning full subclass must have been one truly eureka moment. love the concept and excited to play with it in the future
That is a cool idea, it could get annoying quick though, having the core of the subclass not work like it's supposed to. it could be fun for a short time maybe you need to find a cooperative timeline to pull from? something I learned about the Echo you summon, they only have 1hp (and immunity to all conditions) but they are not a creature they are technically a magical object, meaning spells like fireball, lightning bolt, shatter, thunderwave etc..., do not harm the echo because they target creatures and the echo is not a creature, they can also move vertically.
I genuinely had a character concept of someone who is a spell sword that was able to talk to the ghost of himself who had just time travelled back to the past before dying. With the blade that the character is using being literally partly forged with the ashes of his future self. This subclass is absolutely perfect. Before I was struggling to decide between a full wizard, eldritch knight, warlock etc.
I thought of a great RP element of this class. What if in everytime you summon a echo, your link to those possible version of yourself gets stronger and stronger, and eventually an echo replaces you? And you now have a multiple personality of sorts, and then each time an Echo pops up, it's actually your true self trying to fight to get back to this reality
Wouldn't whichever timeline that has a real and physical you in it be the real you? if you get replaced aren't you just an echo now or rather you always were? I don't know, it could work but time travel and alternate timeline stories get weird real fast, lets say you get "back" did you really get back or did you create yet another alternate timeline and doom another you to suffer what you went through, and the echo who replaced you is still out there? or were you the echo that replaced yourself all along?
Duuuuuude. I've been wanting to write a "clone" class for awhile, but I never knew how to flavor it. This is it! Thanks Matt.... for stealing my idea :'( ... ;) Jk, brilliant idea.
OK, I have a bunch of questions about the Echo Knight mechanics. I'm playing a combo EchoKnight/Gloomstalker in a campaign that uses Fantasy Grounds for battle maps. We are very tactical in our game play with RP sort of there to set up the combats. I've raised a few questions on how the mechanics of using the Echo work and our DM has had trouble making decisions about it because there is so little discussion out there on the boards. Here's the issue: How realistic is the Echo? Would a enemy creature see the Echo as a independent threat or would it see it as a duplicate of me? It occupies its own space and so it's more than just an illusion. The answer effects how useful the Echo is beyond the teleport ability and speaks to target selection by enemy creatures. Unlike the Mirror Image spell where the mirrors all exist in the same space as the caster and do exactly the same thing as the caster, the Echo seems to be able to move on its own, and be able to make a melee attack separate from the main character. Does the Echo move realistically? What about when its moving on the ground vs in the air? If the Echo makes a ranged attack is the arrow real or is it a gray translucent part of the Echo? If it's real when does it become real? Is it when the arrow is knocked, or when it leaves my square or when it hits? If I take the Dodge action, does the Mirror also Dodge? Can I make an attack and have the Echo dodge? What happens if my character drops an item or weapon? Does the Echo also drop the item? The answer to all these sorts of questions impacts the realism of the Echo and thus the usability/functionality of the Echo in our game. So, someone, please help!
The fighter in the campaign I dm just hit level 3 and is now an Echo Knight. I've tried answering many of the same questions as you now face. I've ruled that the echo is obviously an image, meaning most enemies will attempt to fight the actual character. Low intelligence enemies may choose to attack the echo, and in low light or obscured battlefields the echo is more likely to draw fire. I know it's gauche to recommend other RUclips channels, but treantmonk has a video where he does good analysis of RAW. He also discusses possible abuses of the abilities. I stretched the ability once to have a well timed swap save the falling character, swapping to his echo a moment before impact. I have yet to circle back to that ruling since, but I may overrule myself! It's powerful enough to have the similarity to free misty steps and feather falls.
I'd say that the echo initially pulls the same threat as other illusory things but once it moves, attacks or opportunity attacks the enemies will consider it more dangerous. Seeing it die in 1 hit should also further refine enemy behaviour. If they learn that disabling you also stops the echo they will probably stick with that. Important that the echo mechanically isn't a clone. Regardless of lore intentions the echo mechanically is just an object of sorts that has limited physical form and serves as a focal point in space from where your weapon arm can appear to swing. Imagine only doing a temporary half swap where instead of changing place only your weapon arm gets teleported to attack.
Would make for a great villian, as you'll never know if what you're fighting is really him or the echo, unless of course the echo has some sort of translucent shadoy effect to differentiate it, which can be solved with some simple illusion magic.
Critical Role has showcased echos and they appear as featureless masses of dark gray energy in the shape of their creator. But yes Mirror Image fuckery with echos is gonna be fun, maybe 2 level dip in trickster cleric for Invoke Duplicity. Maximum fuckery.
So I wonder something: If you're an Echo Knight and can take alternate versions of yourself from an alternate timeline, could your alternate version of yourself from another timeline take YOU to them? Like, I know that Matt says the other timelines are decaying and all, but as long as they are not COMPLETELY decayed, the alternate Echo Knight is still an Echo Knight, and MAYBE, just maybe, he could tap into your (main) timeline and drag YOU into one of his fight? (oh my god I just though of the absolute best story plot for an Echo Knight! So you're an Echo Knight but from an alternate, main timeline. And you know the timeline you got dragged to is decaying, and your mission is to turn this alternate timeline into the main timeline, because you're stuck in it (maybe your alternate self who dragged you died before you went back, and that severed the connection? You guys have fun with it! :p ). That'd be a fun story! I'm looking for a new DnD game right now; if the DM allows it I'll try to pull that story in there! :p lol)
It was most likely someone attempting to homebrew echo knights based on what they'd already seen on CR, since it's been nearly 2 years since he introduced the first one.
I love the idea of it. I just feel like the class could be explained better (anti magix fields, Warcaster Opportunity Attacks, can you teleport into your Echo using Avatar Mode)
I associate this subclass with rolling dice - you roll and whatever happens, all of the other versions of your roll exist in other timelines... so it's cool to pull aid from your other rolls as well.
I'm intrigued by the mechanical implications of this... Is it like the "Lucky" feat, where an echo of a weapon "hitting" replaces a miss? Is it like the "Boots of the Winding Path", where you teleport to a spot you previously occupied mere moments before? ...can you pull a copy of yourself from another timeline to take a fatal blow, similar to an illusion wizard's "Illusory Double"?
We'll have to wait for the book (in about a week! :D ), but from what they say here, what it seems like it is, you basically summon another character, another fighter, with your stats (although maybe least HP?). And it fights a little bit like a Ranger/Beastmaster's beast would fight: Either you take your Standard Action to attack yourself, or you use it to make your echo attack. The difference being, you're probably not as emotionally attached to your echo as a Ranger would be to their beast, so you can just send the echo in first, do as much damage as possible and if he dies, well, that's just too bad for the alternate timeline he came from, y'know?
Ive always wanted to make a summoner subclass for fighter (or just a new class all together). Where you could summon creatures/like a skeletal knight or something and use them to fight along side you.
Idea for an Echo Knight: Your character is a Doppelgänger who recently came into maturity, and is going to take the identity of its first person. They find someone and take them back to their lair. What the Doppelgänger doesn’t know is that the lair is an old necromancer hideout. When your character tries to take its victim’s identity it is overwhelmed by their emotions, and forgets what they were, actually thinking that they are that person. Their Echo on the other hand, is actually that victim haunting the character to do specific tasks in their stead.
I'd probably create a character like this as having had a pivotal moment in their life where they had a big choice to make. Kind of like an evil twin, or good twin depending on who the main character would be.
I would absolutely use this, either as a player or DM, to have the Echos be very different what-ifs of the Echo Knight summoning them. One might be randomly be a pirate with an eye patch, another could be horribly mutated beastial creature, another could be very clearly be a servant of a great evil. Mechanically I would change nothing and the player would still control the Echoes' actions, but it could be very fun "there but for the grace of God goes I" sort of situation. Sort of like a Rick and Morty adventure with the different kinds of Ricks.
This is distinctly similar to Ekko from LoL as one example, although Ekko himself is also pulled from other sources. I think it's a pretty cool concept brought into DnD :)
Is there going to be an errata coming out for the Echo Knight? There seems to a lot questions that are not answered. It says you can do and attack but what weapon, the one your using? What if you have a bow or its magical, what if you previously cast Shadow Blade? I see the stats for the echo but can you buff it after you summon it, bless, aid etc?
I experienced an Echo Knight for the first time last night and I think the unlimited nature of the Manifest Echo (instead of linking it to their proficiency modifier) make it an overpowered feature. They get to move it around the board, “teleport,” attack, and create a new Echo with virtually no significant cost to their action economy.
Fighters deserve it, frankly. Plus it devours bonus action economy with unleash incarnation and the bonus action to re-manifest or swap. If it wasn't unlimited they'd be a big standard vanilla fighter with more HP after a few fights
The echo doesn't add DPR outside of a feature that is tied to resources (unleash incarnation con mod per long rest). So just putting the echo out gives you a long range melee attack at best and an "object" to draw aggro or body block with. It can be pretty strong at getting around the battlefield if the echo lives its initial turn but it really isn't comparable to a caster in terms of BS they can do. Bonus action is the big limiter on the class.
Now this was the class I was hoping for, its sounds great. My worry is the abilities don't sound too crazy and kind of like a few others we already have. So I really hope they are expanded on or very different. But other then that I am hyped for this subclass.
Echo Knights can make the opportunity of attack reaction. Can they take other reactions too? Like if I'm using the Sentinel feat, can my echo hit somebody that hit an ally 5 ft from them, or nah because they're an object and not an ally? Also can you use bonus actions with your echo like action surge? If my my College of Swords Bard dies, I'd like to make one of these as a variant human with the Shield Master and Sentinel feats, and use the protection fighting style. I feel like I could use the echo abilities to get to people faster, but not be the defender that my physical character is. Cool class either way.
Your Echo doesn't ever make attacks, take actions, bonus actions, or reactions you can make an attack originating from the echo's space, you can make an opportunity attack as if you were in the Echo's space all along, your Echo is technically a magical object not a creature, essentially in combat you are in 2 places at once while still only occupying your space.
Is there anywhere where how the echo knight synergies with other rules is? I have seen some stuff on reddit, but is there an official thing from Matt? Is it just a fight buddy or can it do more? Can it be heavy dm dependant?
The Echo Knights Echo is a magical object in the form of a "translucent Grey image", it is not a creature, it cannot take actions, bonus, actions, or reactions, it cannot move unless you will it to. You can make attacks originating from the echo's space, you can make an attack of opportunity as if you were in the Echo's space, it is an extension of yourself, it is essentially a magical object that let's you fight from 2 spaces at the same time.
I need help with the echo knight i have a pc that is a death domain cleric/ echo knight and i need to know if you can use your echo and cast inflict wounds as you would a familiar cashing it through them not them casting it but actually using them to as of catching it through them them using the touch portion
I keep trying to figure out if my echo can hold and bring me objects like mage hand, on one hand I cant think of a single functional reason why it couldn't I also on another hand dont think they want you to do it and I'm sure people that are hard core rules lawyer will say since it doesnt say you can do that, that means it can do it. Just like that time astral monk first came around and i saw people argue that the magic astral arms were unable to grab things (something arms do) because they were weapons and not arms.
I can already see some hilarious potential with this subclass just by how they describe it playing. If your deviding your actions up amongst you and your clone then I'd love to see your clone grapple and restrain a Target then you action surge attack said Target with advantage. Good? No. Basically the same as attacking him twice with action surge but with extra steps. Though is it cool to pin your target with your shadow time clone as you curb stomp their face in? Yes. Want to play this with the unarmed fighting style fighter then I can play as Noob saibot.
Just throwing this out there for people with play groups. Im thinking that unless this class has int based requirements you can combo this class with hexblade or way of shadow monk to kinda make noob sabiot
Do you have any ideas for an Echo Knight character? What race and backstory? Inspire us with your ideas!
Pre-order today from D&D Beyond to receive exclusive bonus content! dndbeyond.link/wildemount
I've had an Eldritch Knight for some years and ugh I wish this existed when I made him!!! Might turn his siblings into one lol
I can't stop thinking of the slightly horror-themed elements. Armies of 'Failed Futures', or areas of the world infested by temporal echos rather than ghosts, expanses of land with looping timelines. Oh boy, gonna tear into these mechanics.
@@tomisabum That sounds like amazing chaos!
Off the top of my head...
Dion, the Wayfaring Knight
Lawful Good
Human
Dion hails from the Shattered Teeth and was born into the "nobility" of the Ossended Hosts. He became a knight and was the recipient of the best training money could buy. Additionally, he became a student of experimental fighting techniques steeped in magic- the Krynn weren't the only ones to develop Dunamancy. He served as a highly-paid bodyguard for mercantile shipments until the hypocrisy of his country and the conflicts they participated in dawned on him: Was he really fighting for order, if that order then caused more conflict and wrought death on the innocent? His training as an Echo Knight taught him that there are many sides to every story, he knew there was a better way to resolve the myriad border disputes, and his "countrymen" were more concerned with profit than anything else. It disgusted him.
He eventually bought passage out of the Shattered Teeth, toward an unknown destination.
Anywhere else would be better than here, he thought.
@@TheArtisticGamer7 oh I'm so excited for eldritch knight with dunamacy AND echo knights, they sound like incredible concepts! Maybe their can be siblings or something, could have an interesting character is the worst happens
UA class variants, Rune knight and now the Echo Knight...this is the best timeline to play fighter
Haha! True!
I mean eldritch knights were there all along! (They my favorites)
Sort of sounds like the Swarm Ranger, tbh.
We might be in that timeline. Which is fine by me.
edit: I found a press release on Tribality that suggests it's a Fighter. Oh well.
And Purple Dragon Knight!
Nah brother, THIS IS THE BEST TIMELINE TO PLAY D&D!!
The fact that people in the comments are likening this to so many different characters is proof in itself that this idea deserved to be made into a subclass, IMO
I can't believe Matthew actually went and invented a Stand User class. The absolute mad lad.
Unearthed arcana set one up for the monk earlier
Filthy Acts at a Reasonable Price
@@messiahnyx971 Now I gotta dual-class with the two classes...
@@bulksquatthrust8792 A stand user can only have one stand! Wha-
Remember, he is the dub voice for Jotaro
"Summon versions of yourself that you could've become from slightly different timelines." This would be so perfect for a Dark Souls inspired campaign.
When you realise Matt has made everyone’s D4C Monk dreams come true
Echo knights: can pull other versions of themselves from other dimensions and use them to fight
Now mix it with astral self monk and you'll have D4C
I have an Astral Monk and I'm debating MC him into this LOL! Great minds eh? Or possibly giving it to my Tranquility Monk who can Sanctuary for 8 hours while off in the echo.
Just love that whole Echo Knight class from dip to finish.
Must take the Alert feat, you shall be the first to pick the napkin!
Ah yes, Filthy acts at a reasonable price
What's a D4C?
Can’t wait to play as Funny Valentine when this comes out
RnGDuvall you absolute mad lad
“Filthy Acts at a Reasonable Price!”
Dimes For Crimes! (It's still D4C)
*dojyaan intensifies*
*DO~JYANNNNNNNNNNNNNNN*
So, Ciri? Or maybe a little flavor of Celebrimbor and Talion from Shadows of Mordor? That's pretty sick.
I am really digging the idea of a Talion/Celebrimbor character and this and horizon walker are finally making it possible
Ooooh! That's true! Man I love both those games. Should play them both again... xD
I think it looks like the Drow fighter in the sewers in campaign 2 as far as abilities go.
@@OldSchoolGM94 I think he was an echo knight. :P
totally gonna be talion
IS THIS THE WORK OF AN ENEMY STAND
To be a stand user you have to have big muscles with the word menecing above your head
@@SneakattackMTG6833 watch anything beyond part 3, part 4 has normal shaped humans and everyone in pt. 5 and forward would make Matt look like a power lifter
nope, thats the "Proud Soul barbarian"
It's D4C!
@@SneakattackMTG6833 You also have to be capable of meaningless yet *_absolutely fabulous_* posing.
And now we can all play as Dave Strider
Oh please I need this, I'm in love ever since matt used the descriptions of the echo knight
From a Role Play perspective, there is an awesome amount of flavor available here. I would play every Echo having at least one distinctive alteration. Full range from different gender to different alignment. The fun part would be throwing things out there, without explaining fully what caused the differences.
There are so many awesome builds this class can help create: Zed and Ekko from League of Legends are the immediate thought, and plenty of people have already pointed out the JoJo possibility.
I'm personally excited to finally build Isaac from Skullgirls.
I'm waiting to be able to build isaac from the binding of isaac
One of the coolest additions. This is definitely a something I want to play.
"An Echo Knight is able to tap into those dying timelines and temporarily pull a version of themselves from that timeline"
The nature of humanity is just that every so often someone accidentally invents Homestuck again.
It keeps hapening.
President Funny Valentine is an Echo Knight
You can't fight the Honestuck
@@petersenior5432 DnD:Love train
Time for a Dave Strider build!
Sweet Matt! I made an NPC just like this 2 years ago in one of my campaigns. A lot of people hoped I made a playable class or wanted more information on him when the campaign was over. Looking forward to where you drew inspiration from.
From a Matt to another Matt, /salute
Oh this is the perfect subclass for Dave Strider
More like aradia tbh
Anyone who uses Time rly. Lol.
yea but aradia specifically calls doomed versions of herself into the alpha timeline, which is basically word for word what matt said
@@mfwiseesomeonet-posing7395 doesn't Dave do that too though?
@@bronsonkim6652 dave returns from the future, but it's the same him just further down along the same timeline. aradia summons a bunch of other versions of herself that did not succeed to fight, its technically different
Virgil just made his way to d&d
*I need more POWER*
Hitman7846 Now I’m MOTIVATED
REGorilla *JACKPOT!!!*
You are not worthy as my opponent
Getting hard to maintain composure
Reminds me of the Flash using a time remnant of himself to fight with
OH my lord I've never thought of that
MATT BRILLIANT JOB ON ECHO KNIGHT.... the creative impetus to create such a meaning full subclass must have been one truly eureka moment. love the concept and excited to play with it in the future
About the mischievous DM part. Yeah, what if the Echo Self isn't really cooperative, having its own will and desires.
That is a cool idea, it could get annoying quick though, having the core of the subclass not work like it's supposed to. it could be fun for a short time maybe you need to find a cooperative timeline to pull from?
something I learned about the Echo you summon, they only have 1hp (and immunity to all conditions) but they are not a creature they are technically a magical object, meaning spells like fireball, lightning bolt, shatter, thunderwave etc..., do not harm the echo because they target creatures and the echo is not a creature, they can also move vertically.
This explains a lot from Campaign 2, and it sounds very cool to play.
China Mieville has a character you can base this on in his book "The Scar." The warrior in question calls it possibility mining.
I REALLY want to see the crunch on this to see how easily i can blend it with a monk!
I love everything that I am hearing about this new sourcebook, and I also love that he said "timey wimey".
Damn Matt, referencing Langoliers!
Loved the villain in that movie.
Delightfully over-the-top.
This sounds really cool - very excited to see this!
I genuinely had a character concept of someone who is a spell sword that was able to talk to the ghost of himself who had just time travelled back to the past before dying. With the blade that the character is using being literally partly forged with the ashes of his future self. This subclass is absolutely perfect. Before I was struggling to decide between a full wizard, eldritch knight, warlock etc.
Funny Valentine would like a word with you
I thought of a great RP element of this class. What if in everytime you summon a echo, your link to those possible version of yourself gets stronger and stronger, and eventually an echo replaces you? And you now have a multiple personality of sorts, and then each time an Echo pops up, it's actually your true self trying to fight to get back to this reality
Wouldn't whichever timeline that has a real and physical you in it be the real you? if you get replaced aren't you just an echo now or rather you always were? I don't know, it could work but time travel and alternate timeline stories get weird real fast, lets say you get "back" did you really get back or did you create yet another alternate timeline and doom another you to suffer what you went through, and the echo who replaced you is still out there? or were you the echo that replaced yourself all along?
Oh man Echo Knight plus Bladesinger... ideas are forming!
This is huge. Love these new subclasses.
So a gunslinging Echo Knight would be like a Grammaton Cleric? :P
Dang the Echo Knight really does make me like Funny Valentine
I've got an Echo Knight/ Shadow Monk thats gonna let me live out my Naruto dreams. Truly wouldn't feel right without this subclass, so thanks Matt
Echo Knight sounds like an existential crisis waiting to happen.
The concept actually reminds me almost of the concept of a Time Remnant from The Flash
I'm playing an Echo Knight at the earliest possible chance.
Duuuuuude. I've been wanting to write a "clone" class for awhile, but I never knew how to flavor it. This is it! Thanks Matt.... for stealing my idea :'( ... ;) Jk, brilliant idea.
First DnD Module I've preordered.
So many Dave Striders just got rolled up...
OK, I have a bunch of questions about the Echo Knight mechanics. I'm playing a combo EchoKnight/Gloomstalker in a campaign that uses Fantasy Grounds for battle maps. We are very tactical in our game play with RP sort of there to set up the combats. I've raised a few questions on how the mechanics of using the Echo work and our DM has had trouble making decisions about it because there is so little discussion out there on the boards. Here's the issue: How realistic is the Echo? Would a enemy creature see the Echo as a independent threat or would it see it as a duplicate of me? It occupies its own space and so it's more than just an illusion. The answer effects how useful the Echo is beyond the teleport ability and speaks to target selection by enemy creatures. Unlike the Mirror Image spell where the mirrors all exist in the same space as the caster and do exactly the same thing as the caster, the Echo seems to be able to move on its own, and be able to make a melee attack separate from the main character. Does the Echo move realistically? What about when its moving on the ground vs in the air? If the Echo makes a ranged attack is the arrow real or is it a gray translucent part of the Echo? If it's real when does it become real? Is it when the arrow is knocked, or when it leaves my square or when it hits? If I take the Dodge action, does the Mirror also Dodge? Can I make an attack and have the Echo dodge? What happens if my character drops an item or weapon? Does the Echo also drop the item? The answer to all these sorts of questions impacts the realism of the Echo and thus the usability/functionality of the Echo in our game. So, someone, please help!
The fighter in the campaign I dm just hit level 3 and is now an Echo Knight. I've tried answering many of the same questions as you now face. I've ruled that the echo is obviously an image, meaning most enemies will attempt to fight the actual character. Low intelligence enemies may choose to attack the echo, and in low light or obscured battlefields the echo is more likely to draw fire. I know it's gauche to recommend other RUclips channels, but treantmonk has a video where he does good analysis of RAW. He also discusses possible abuses of the abilities. I stretched the ability once to have a well timed swap save the falling character, swapping to his echo a moment before impact. I have yet to circle back to that ruling since, but I may overrule myself! It's powerful enough to have the similarity to free misty steps and feather falls.
I'd say that the echo initially pulls the same threat as other illusory things but once it moves, attacks or opportunity attacks the enemies will consider it more dangerous.
Seeing it die in 1 hit should also further refine enemy behaviour.
If they learn that disabling you also stops the echo they will probably stick with that.
Important that the echo mechanically isn't a clone. Regardless of lore intentions the echo mechanically is just an object of sorts that has limited physical form and serves as a focal point in space from where your weapon arm can appear to swing.
Imagine only doing a temporary half swap where instead of changing place only your weapon arm gets teleported to attack.
I’m going to have so much fun with this!
Ok so it's homestuck-based time travel. Neat.
Would make for a great villian, as you'll never know if what you're fighting is really him or the echo, unless of course the echo has some sort of translucent shadoy effect to differentiate it, which can be solved with some simple illusion magic.
Critical Role has showcased echos and they appear as featureless masses of dark gray energy in the shape of their creator. But yes Mirror Image fuckery with echos is gonna be fun, maybe 2 level dip in trickster cleric for Invoke Duplicity. Maximum fuckery.
Unless you find the echo that is secretly good... or he runs out of echos.
Yeah maybe have a race of some sorts with the Corpse parts of a Saint?
Yes!! Matt knows Langoliers! That's awesome.
Alas, now I can play as Ciri.
Alongside your Fighter/Artificer(Alchemist) companion, named Geralt.
@@benjoe1993 multiclassed to Blood Hunter :)
So I wonder something: If you're an Echo Knight and can take alternate versions of yourself from an alternate timeline, could your alternate version of yourself from another timeline take YOU to them? Like, I know that Matt says the other timelines are decaying and all, but as long as they are not COMPLETELY decayed, the alternate Echo Knight is still an Echo Knight, and MAYBE, just maybe, he could tap into your (main) timeline and drag YOU into one of his fight?
(oh my god I just though of the absolute best story plot for an Echo Knight! So you're an Echo Knight but from an alternate, main timeline. And you know the timeline you got dragged to is decaying, and your mission is to turn this alternate timeline into the main timeline, because you're stuck in it (maybe your alternate self who dragged you died before you went back, and that severed the connection? You guys have fun with it! :p ). That'd be a fun story! I'm looking for a new DnD game right now; if the DM allows it I'll try to pull that story in there! :p lol)
I read this as a homebrew subclass around half a year ago on Reddit, I bet he took inspiration from that.
I kinda doubt it since he had it done or at least the framework quite a bit earlier than that
It was most likely someone attempting to homebrew echo knights based on what they'd already seen on CR, since it's been nearly 2 years since he introduced the first one.
This kind of reminds me of Firefight from the Reckoners series by Brandon Sanderson. I must say I AM STOKED!
I love the idea of it. I just feel like the class could be explained better (anti magix fields, Warcaster Opportunity Attacks, can you teleport into your Echo using Avatar Mode)
Matt mercer: Casually create one of the best and most interesting subclasses
I sincerely appreciate Matt’s use of “themself” here. Just normalizing it which I think is pretty cool
I associate this subclass with rolling dice - you roll and whatever happens, all of the other versions of your roll exist in other timelines... so it's cool to pull aid from your other rolls as well.
I'm intrigued by the mechanical implications of this...
Is it like the "Lucky" feat, where an echo of a weapon "hitting" replaces a miss?
Is it like the "Boots of the Winding Path", where you teleport to a spot you previously occupied mere moments before?
...can you pull a copy of yourself from another timeline to take a fatal blow, similar to an illusion wizard's "Illusory Double"?
We'll have to wait for the book (in about a week! :D ), but from what they say here, what it seems like it is, you basically summon another character, another fighter, with your stats (although maybe least HP?). And it fights a little bit like a Ranger/Beastmaster's beast would fight: Either you take your Standard Action to attack yourself, or you use it to make your echo attack.
The difference being, you're probably not as emotionally attached to your echo as a Ranger would be to their beast, so you can just send the echo in first, do as much damage as possible and if he dies, well, that's just too bad for the alternate timeline he came from, y'know?
Ive always wanted to make a summoner subclass for fighter (or just a new class all together). Where you could summon creatures/like a skeletal knight or something and use them to fight along side you.
I HAVE WANTED THE ECHO KNIGHT AS A PLAYABLE CLASS SINCE MATT INTRODUCED DUNAMANCY
Idea for an Echo Knight:
Your character is a Doppelgänger who recently came into maturity, and is going to take the identity of its first person. They find someone and take them back to their lair. What the Doppelgänger doesn’t know is that the lair is an old necromancer hideout. When your character tries to take its victim’s identity it is overwhelmed by their emotions, and forgets what they were, actually thinking that they are that person. Their Echo on the other hand, is actually that victim haunting the character to do specific tasks in their stead.
I'd probably create a character like this as having had a pivotal moment in their life where they had a big choice to make. Kind of like an evil twin, or good twin depending on who the main character would be.
Subclass of fighter? I just want to make sure. They never mention it specifically in the video.
Presumably
Yes
Yep
Matt is just a blessing to DnD; dude literally makes whole new classes, subclasses, and (bad to some) standards of play.
Lmfao no
Dang, I have so many ideas for this in combat. You can keep the enemies away from your casters, and still be on the front, wrecking face.
I would absolutely use this, either as a player or DM, to have the Echos be very different what-ifs of the Echo Knight summoning them. One might be randomly be a pirate with an eye patch, another could be horribly mutated beastial creature, another could be very clearly be a servant of a great evil. Mechanically I would change nothing and the player would still control the Echoes' actions, but it could be very fun "there but for the grace of God goes I" sort of situation. Sort of like a Rick and Morty adventure with the different kinds of Ricks.
When Todd said the words "timey-wimey", every Whovian around lifted their noses to the air like bloodhounds.
This is distinctly similar to Ekko from LoL as one example, although Ekko himself is also pulled from other sources. I think it's a pretty cool concept brought into DnD :)
Already pre-ordered this book. Mark 17th can’t come soon enough.
Is there going to be an errata coming out for the Echo Knight? There seems to a lot questions that are not answered. It says you can do and attack but what weapon, the one your using? What if you have a bow or its magical, what if you previously cast Shadow Blade? I see the stats for the echo but can you buff it after you summon it, bless, aid etc?
I experienced an Echo Knight for the first time last night and I think the unlimited nature of the Manifest Echo (instead of linking it to their proficiency modifier) make it an overpowered feature. They get to move it around the board, “teleport,” attack, and create a new Echo with virtually no significant cost to their action economy.
Fighters deserve it, frankly. Plus it devours bonus action economy with unleash incarnation and the bonus action to re-manifest or swap. If it wasn't unlimited they'd be a big standard vanilla fighter with more HP after a few fights
The echo doesn't add DPR outside of a feature that is tied to resources (unleash incarnation con mod per long rest). So just putting the echo out gives you a long range melee attack at best and an "object" to draw aggro or body block with.
It can be pretty strong at getting around the battlefield if the echo lives its initial turn but it really isn't comparable to a caster in terms of BS they can do.
Bonus action is the big limiter on the class.
Now this was the class I was hoping for, its sounds great. My worry is the abilities don't sound too crazy and kind of like a few others we already have. So I really hope they are expanded on or very different. But other then that I am hyped for this subclass.
"the abilities don't sound too crazy"? What, is being in 2 (eventually 3) places at once in a fight not enough?
Matt referenced The Langoliers, I love him!
This kinda makes me wonder if Matt is drawing inspiration from China Miéville! Big Uther Doul vibes
All I can think while watching this is steins;gate
I wonder how this will synergize with The Reflectionist on the DMsGuild?
Echo Knights can make the opportunity of attack reaction. Can they take other reactions too? Like if I'm using the Sentinel feat, can my echo hit somebody that hit an ally 5 ft from them, or nah because they're an object and not an ally? Also can you use bonus actions with your echo like action surge?
If my my College of Swords Bard dies, I'd like to make one of these as a variant human with the Shield Master and Sentinel feats, and use the protection fighting style. I feel like I could use the echo abilities to get to people faster, but not be the defender that my physical character is.
Cool class either way.
Your Echo doesn't ever make attacks, take actions, bonus actions, or reactions you can make an attack originating from the echo's space, you can make an opportunity attack as if you were in the Echo's space all along, your Echo is technically a magical object not a creature, essentially in combat you are in 2 places at once while still only occupying your space.
Can you just release this as the long form interview it clearly is please?
Fighters are getting more love and flavor.....dammit I said I wasn't going to cry but it's just so beautiful! 😭😭😭
So excited for this!
Uggh I want a peek at them!
I invented the expose knight. It fights by spilling tea and being fabulous
Oh this is going to be good this is going to be real good.
Oh the possible shenanigans you can do with this subclass
Is there anywhere where how the echo knight synergies with other rules is? I have seen some stuff on reddit, but is there an official thing from Matt? Is it just a fight buddy or can it do more? Can it be heavy dm dependant?
The Echo Knights Echo is a magical object in the form of a "translucent Grey image", it is not a creature, it cannot take actions, bonus, actions, or reactions, it cannot move unless you will it to. You can make attacks originating from the echo's space, you can make an attack of opportunity as if you were in the Echo's space, it is an extension of yourself, it is essentially a magical object that let's you fight from 2 spaces at the same time.
Been using cleric of trickery with blur
Trickery clerics are sorely underrated
This subclass has a great rp hook. Some spell or effect could cause an echo to manifest a nega-Matt into existence for a great arch-enemy.
I need help with the echo knight i have a pc that is a death domain cleric/ echo knight and i need to know if you can use your echo and cast inflict wounds as you would a familiar cashing it through them not them casting it but actually using them to as of catching it through them them using the touch portion
I don't think so, but I don't have the book so I could be wrong
I can’t believe Dave from Homestuck is a D&D class now
So...a stand? Between this, Way of the Astral Self, and Kalashtar we are getting more and more JoJo into D&D and I’m here for it.
I keep trying to figure out if my echo can hold and bring me objects like mage hand, on one hand I cant think of a single functional reason why it couldn't I also on another hand dont think they want you to do it and I'm sure people that are hard core rules lawyer will say since it doesnt say you can do that, that means it can do it. Just like that time astral monk first came around and i saw people argue that the magic astral arms were unable to grab things (something arms do) because they were weapons and not arms.
I will play this. Wish me good luck.
I now realize home much home brewing has gone into this mighty nein journey.
So you telling me that I can pull all my past character :p
I can already see some hilarious potential with this subclass just by how they describe it playing. If your deviding your actions up amongst you and your clone then I'd love to see your clone grapple and restrain a Target then you action surge attack said Target with advantage. Good? No. Basically the same as attacking him twice with action surge but with extra steps.
Though is it cool to pin your target with your shadow time clone as you curb stomp their face in? Yes.
Want to play this with the unarmed fighting style fighter then I can play as Noob saibot.
Yeah, but now they're still grappled.
Does the echo knights avatar use your darkvision?
Aaah... The Homestuck Dave Strider class.
I see I am not the only one who thought this.
I was wondering who else would think of this
The echo avatar have darkvision if the character have ?
Will Blood hunter, Cobalt Soul, and Gunsliger be Official now?
K'thriss D'rowb is apparently an echo knight. Good on him.
Just throwing this out there for people with play groups.
Im thinking that unless this class has int based requirements you can combo this class with hexblade or way of shadow monk to kinda make noob sabiot
It is a fighter subclass, so no INT prerequisite
The only thing this subclass calls for is Con. So go nuts.
Matt mercer fr just made funny valentine