Editing Diviner (section)

==5th Edition's Arcane Tradition==
'''Diviners''' are still the typical DM's most hated wizardly tradition, and probably the one most likely to get banned at any gaming table. Why? Because the 5e Diviner is a master of screwing with dice rolls and is one of the more complicated of the default Traditions. At level 2, they gain the Portent ability, which lets them roll two D20s after a long rest and take the numbers as notes. They can burn these "saved" rolls to use them as the automatic results whenever they, an ally, or an enemy attempts an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check, although each "saved" roll is only usable once, the Portent can only be used once per turn, and "saved" rolls are lost the next time the Diviner takes a long rest (note that that they can grant or force any being they see one of these rolls). At level 6, they gain Expert Divination; whenever they cast a Divination spell of level 2 or higher, they can regain a spent spell slot, so long as this slot is A: no higher than level 5, and B: is at least one level lower than the spell they cast to gain the refund. Their level 10 ability, The Third Eye, isn't so bad; when the Diviner completes a short or long rest, they can give themselves either Darkvision 60 feet, Ethereal Sight 60 feet, See Invisible 10 feet, or the ability to read any language. Finally, at level 14, their Greater Portent gives them three D20s for Portent instead of only two.

Generally, Expert Divination is just a few extra line items for the player to keep track of, but Portent can be a campaign-wrecker.  Why is Portent such a big deal?  Because those saved rolls can turn a crucial moment into slapstick comedy.  The diviner can point a dominate spell at the BBEG and declare its save to be the three she rolled over cheerios this morning; suddenly the party is playing buddy cop with the doomsday cult leader intended to antagonize the party for years to come.  Conversely, good rolls give the diviner a get-out-of-jail-free card against that same BBEG's death spell.  Either way it can be an automatic [[The_Henderson_Scale_of_Plot_Derailment|half-henderson]] or more.

Any plot that can unravel with just one or two key rolls suddenly will, meaning that the DM usually needs to plan a more complex game to engage the party fairly.  This in turn plays to the diviner's hands; a diviner is literally a specialist in spells that gain extra information.  Put all these pieces together, and you have a character that can put a DM on the defensive... and it's always, always in the hands of a player that does that anyway.  If the DM was prepared and expecting this, great, but if the DM (or the other players) were expecting a dungeon-crawling action game this can strain the whole party.

In conclusion: DMs, talk to your players about divination to see if Portent is right for you.  (Also, it's like two or three rolls per day, and if your DM is two or three rolls per adventuring day away from having his campaign wrecked, motherfucker needs all the help he can get.)

===The Dice Master===
A Youtuber by the name of Zee Bashew created a diviner build he bizarrely named "Build Murray" that takes the DM-breakdown-inducing nature of the diviner subclass and cranks it up to [[Kender]]/[[Xaositect]] levels, ''and the motherfucker even had the nerve to claim that it's "by no means an optimal build"'': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSK0AcFqkyU

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category: Gamer Slang]] [[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Classes]]