When it comes to unarmed fighting, monks are the only viable class in D&D. The addition of an Intelligence-based class that does not rely on magic is a welcome change to the typical smart characters of D&D. The Scholar class is very versatile with three pursuits that range from a supportive healer to a powerful and smart master tactician, tons of maneuvers, and discoveries that can change your play style. This subclass offers more strategic approaches to combat with additional maneuvers and powerful features that affect their fighting capabilities more than the other pursuits. This subclass relies more on the charisma of the character, improving their capabilities in social encounters, and using their force of personality to influence enemies or allies in combat.

While not the best healer, in low magic campaigns this subclass can be very useful.

This subclass improves the supportive capabilities of the class with extra maneuvers that can heal your allies or disable your enemies. The Scholar has the three following subclasses: The Scholar fills the supportive martial fighter role in combat, as well as a knowledgeable individual in role-play situations with features such as Maneuvers similar to fighter's Battle Master subclass, Critical Analysis which allows them to use Intelligence modifier instead of Strength or Dexterity for their weapon attacks, and Discoveries that can improve their capabilities both in combat and non-combat scenarios. Black introduces a new flavor to the game with this Intelligence-based martial class.

Popular homebrew classes 5e