six returning horror-themed subclasses revamped for the 2024 version of D&D 5th Edition. All six returning subclasses saw some of their abilities shifted to various levels and tweaks to various abilities with an eye towards additional usefulness and versatility. However, one subclass received a potentially major nerf to its key feature.

The Shadow Sorcerer's Hound of Ill Omen ability has been dramatically changed, with the Sorcerer subclass now gaining access to a generic summoning spell instead of a mechanically unique summons. While the aim of this change was to make the summons itself more powerful, the mechanical benefits provided to the previous version of the subclass were both more interesting and more useful to many versions of the build. The result is a subclass that feels weaker than before, with a key feature losing much of its flavor and unique abilities.

D&D's Shadow Sorcerer Lost Its Summoning Strength

The Hound Of Ill Omen Has Been Replaced By A Generic Summoning Spell

The original Shadow Sorcerer was able to summon a Hound of Ill Omen, a shadow creature inspired by hounds found in Irish and British mythology. This hound had the statblock of a dire wolf with several additional abilities. Not only could it through other creatures as if they were difficult terrain, the Hound of Ill Omen also automatically knew its target's location, even if the target was hidden. Most importantly, any target of the Hound of Ill Omen automatically had disadvantage on saving throws from spells made by the Shadow Sorcerer.

Now, the Hound of Ill Omen has been replaced by the Spirits of Ill Omen feature, as described in the Unearthed Arcana document available on third-level D&D spell, it was a spell that Sorcerers could already gain access to starting at 5th level.

Additionally, the Hound of Ill Omen could be summoned an unlimited number of times, provided that a Sorcerer had 3 Sorcery Points to spend, and it came with specific benefits that synergized with a Shadow Sorcerer's other abilities. The summons could always target an enemy, even when they're magically hidden or invisible, and it imposed disadvantage on spell saving throws.

Why D&D Says The New Shadow Sorcerer Is Stronger

The Summon Shadowspawn Does Scale With A Sorcerer's Level

The Hound of Ill Omen did have several major downsides, which are being corrected with the summon shadowspawn spell. For instance, the Shadow Spirit summons has attack modifiers and other stats that scale in power based on the Sorcerer's abilities, something missing from the Hound of Ill Omen. The Shadow Spirit also has a once-per-day ability that can cause surrounding creatures to become frightened, which in turn grants the summons advantage on attack throws against those creatures. From a purely attack basis, summon shadowspawn might have more useful damage output than the Hound of Ill Omen, especially at higher levels.

However, removing all the flavor from one of the subclass's key abilities definitely feels like a nerf. Another major nerf is that the Shadow Sorcerer's other key ability, Strength of the Grave, is now an 18th-level ability instead of a 1st-level ability. Strength of the Grave is now much stronger as a high-level ability, but removing another low-level ability makes the Shadow Sorcerer feel much weaker than before. While Dungeons & Dragons is attempting to rebalance the Shadow Sorcerer and make it more versatile, it may have come at the cost of much of the subclass's previous flavor.

Source: D&D Beyond