#Subclasses

[dartagnantt]

Assassin: Rehired | What if the assassin didn't focus on dress-up?

PDFs of this and more can be found over on at my Patreon here! I release everything for free, so your support makes this possible. I've also started making a new system based off of 5e, 6th Dawn! Become a patron and join the playtest.

This week, as part of a theme most foul, I decided to go upon a foul task and revise our hired killer.

The assassin archetype never really appealed to me as a player, and not as a theme either. First off, just over half of its features are based on disguise. Which is fine, but one of them is literally the charlatan background feature for a price. But also, you may have realised this about me, the guy that keeps making playable monsters, I don't play humans and human-likes very often, so being the only gnoll in this city of mostly humans, there is no disguise in hell that will conceal my identity without magic. So while the disguise kit has its uses, the more exotic a creature you play, the less they are outside of the arts.

Secondly, it's primary feature is very strong, auto crit on any creature that has yet to act in combat. Great vibes, see what they're going for. Because that window is variable (and not always there) and at most a round, you don't actually get that feature most of the time. So, I opted to go for a different approach.

Poisoner

The assassin, in addition to disguise, has poisoner's kit proficiency, why not expand on that instead? In this instance I discard disguise as a proficiency you can go out of your way for. Instead, give the assassin a limited use set of debilitating poisons. Ones that impart vulnerability to weapons (what I intend to get the most use), knock out a target (for sneaky sneaks) and one that inflicts sneak attack damage (for convoluted assassination plots).

Death's Shroud

Bringing more general versatility to the previous poisons, but not quite wanting to ape the cloudkill spell, just gaseous poison. Sneak attacking a whole room at once sounds pretty sweet to me.

Hidden in Plain Sight

Possibly the least exciting option, but kind of how I intend to get around the lack of disguise issue for getting close to a target. Do it the old fashioned way! Not being seen.

Marked for Death

I suspect that this feature name exists somewhere in the D&D's history for something similar, but I didn't really check. This is based on the old capstone feature of the rogue, where you just straight up murder people with a single con save. I mean, you're playing an assassin, of course the capstone was going to be the murder button

And now to plug my stuff. I release homebrews weekly over on my Patreon. Anyone who pledges $1 or more per post don't have to wait a month to see them, and also help fund my being alive habit.

At the moment, they have exclusive access to the following:

Scout Roguish Archetype

Poisons: Reapplied

Finding the Trail

Skill Challenges

I also have four classes, and two splatbooks over on DriveThruRPG to check out:

The Rift Binder. A class specialising in summoning monsters and controlling the battlefield.

The Witch Knight. A class that combines swords and sorcery in the most literal way.

The Werebeast. A class that turns you into a half beast to destroy your foes.

The Beguiler. A spellcaster dedicated to illusions, enchantments, and general fuckery.

d'Artagnan's Adventurer Almanac. A compendium of races, subclasses, feats, spells, monsters and more!

d'Artagnan's Lycanthrope Survival Guide. A book of lore, stats, and werebeast subclasses for lycanthropes.

[nite0304]

Day 5! Symbiote Patron!

HEAVILY inspired by venom, as you can probably guess, lmao.

Originally it was going to be a barbarian subclass, but for some reason, the idea of it being a warlock stuck to me, so I went with it and I think its very good, even if a bit broken.

[the-gnomish-bastard]

Flavoring Druids:

Dreams:

The bitch that thinks dreams mean something

The bitch that has a dream journal

Mr. Sandman

Land:

Hippie

Bitch

Moon:

Gru

Werewolf

Zookeeper

Shepherd:

A literal shepherd

Biblically accurate shepherd

Pied Piper (Shrek version)

Spores:

Average dwarf Druid

Average gnome Druid

Mushrum!

Mushrum!

Mushrum!

The fungus

Mushrum!

Stars:

Astrology bitch

Wildfire:

Smokey the Bear’s arch nemesis: Burny the Bear

Forest control

[dungeonmalcontent]

Let's do something a little fun.

Let's run a poll to see what Halloween homebrew I write.

Poll runs for 1 day only, so reblog for a bigger sample size.

All brews from this poll will be free and posted to the blog.

I wanted to get to all of these this month but I get the feeling I won't have the time. So, vote for the one that sounds most interesting on name alone.

[sirobvious]

Every D&D5e player needs to take a listen to this with an open mind.

Here are other links in case you don't want to listen to it through YouTube.

[sword-and-nightingale]

Spoilers, I guess, under cut, but I have a headache, and this is bothering me so more people to think on this. Reblog for sample size.

Nature Domain

Toshiro tells us that the reason he even likes Falin to begin with is because along with her love of monsters, she has a special interest in animals and insects. On top of that, from the scenes with her and Marcille at the academy, she has the whole 'in tune with nature' vibe, and she apparently uses the gnomish way of magic which basically asks the nature spirit's to shape it rather than forcing them like with elvish magic.

Grave Domain

The magic she's shown using is primarily connected to the spirits of dead humans such as when she was a child and displayed a knack for magic, the purification of the spirit with a hug, and talking to the spirits in the house after she was revived. Along with that, she had that job of gravekeeper lined up after her graduation from the magic academy.

[thefirstknife]

I’ve always been a little confused about subclass preferences for Guardians. Are they first rez’d under a specific subclass (excluding the Darkness based ones)?

Stuff like do they know how to wield all of them? Do they teach themselves other subclasses? Do they shift between all of them? Are there Guardians that can only use one?

I just have so many questions about it.

It's somewhat complicated because before subclasses, there's also classes, which are kinda arbitrary. They're more like learned and preferred combat styles and some Lightbearers don't even abide by the class differences (like Drifter), let alone subclass. They're definitely not rezed as any, other than just having the potential for it.

But when it comes to subclasses, there's a little bit of information, like for example about solar:

For many Guardians, Solar Light is the easiest to wield and comprehend. Everyone understands the rejuvenating power of a sunbeam or the sharp burn of a flame.

This tells us that some of it is intrinsic. When you're rezed, you're capable of using these powers (solar, arc, void) and some come easier and more naturally than others. But these quests from Ikora also tell us that at the end of the day, these subclasses have to be learned. Any Lightbearer can understand the basics of subclasses, but to truly understand how to wield them in the way we know them, they have to be learned. They also change and adapt over time so they require constant practice.

We also know that some subclasses have largely stopped being in use (like Sunsinger for Warlocks and Bladedancer for Hunters) and that's because they stopped being taught/practiced. These combat styles technically still exist and we even got a mention of a current time Sunsinger existing, back in Haunted. This tells us that subclasses are more like schools of thought, rather than something a Guardian is born into. They have to choose to practice it, basically.

Outside of that, it's very individual. Some Guardians prefer only one subclass, some prefer multiple. Some change over time, some can use all of them whenever, but still have a preference. Subclasses are also far less strict in lore and Guardians have been shown to be able to swap near instantly between them without any of the gaming limitations that we have. Probably the best example would be Osiris in Immolant. In a single fight, in close succession he: wielded Dawnblade with two swords, extinguished one blade and formed a Nova bomb in its stead, used the second blade to dive and create a Well of Radiance, manages to cast Chaos Reach after being pinned down by Xivu.

So far, I don't think we've seen a Guardian that can only use one. Mostly just that they have preferences or are shown only using one, but there's nothing saying that they physically can't use anything else.

[shakballoonshack]

So today for our last Saturday of pride month we're doing the arrow ace flag. Personally I didn't know that there were subclasses to this; the only ace I knew of was Portogas D Ace, so thank you for educating me ☺️

[pekinaso]

Looks like these are the last of my Destiny art that I have, they were drawn a good while ago. Definitely 2020 if not 2019. They were just early concepts but regardless even today they still apply to Nova, Azazel, and Adam-17.

Warlock: Initially called Duskblade (now Willstealer), this Darkness subclass commands the power of the Taken. The Super acts like a dark version of Daybreak, with the ability to fire out slashes from the sword, but also allows the ability to fire Axion Bolts from the free hand an even slam into the ground to deal heavy damage.

Hunter: Initially called Venomstrafer (now Venomstalker, or Wraith), this Darkness subclass harnesses the power of Hive soulfire and its toxic effects. The Super involves wielding corrosive blades that can be thrown and will boomerang back to you, or can be used to slash away at combatants, spreading noxious poison through the enemy.

Titan: Lazily initially called SIVA (now more appropriately renamed to Replicator), this Darkness subclass combines the power of SIVA with Guardians' paracausality. The Super involves wielding a nanite-forged battle axe, which can then be used to spread more nanites across the field to aid you in battle.

I have since refined the 3 subclasses (and even added 2 more SIVA-based subclasses for the Warlock & Hunter, + a Nightmare subclass for Titan), but I'll show those off whenever I get around to them :)

[maccreadysbaby]

Thought to myself “hey, what are the aesthetics of the subclasses?” Then proceeded to create this

Solar: Straddling the fence between vigilante and outlaw. Justice. The gleam of a pistol in an old leather holster. The smell of oil. Passion. A table full of empty coffee cups. Rebellion, revolution buried deep inside a battered soul. A hood pulled tight, eyes low, piercing. Denial, deflection. The repetitive click of a firearm’s hammer. Easily misplaced trust. Gasoline coursing through veins in the place of blood.

Void: Air too thick to breathe. The shrill shnnnk of a knife being sharpened, echoing in the deafening silence from an unknown source. Exhaustion. Rage. The quiet, methodical fraying of the last remaining shred of sanity. A dangerous smile. A deep and insatiable craving. An internal kryptonite. A glare sharper than daggers. Eyes watching from the shadows. A muffled cry for help that nobody can hear.

Arc: Anticipation. Buzzing veins. Thriving, prospering only in chaos. Loud music thumping behind closed doors. The metallic smell of an old chemistry lab. Jubilation. Exhilaration. The crackling of broken comms. A thunderstorm, loud and strong, echoing from miles away. Raging rapids in a calm river. A battered helmet, thrown off in the heat of battle. An excess of energy begging to be released.

Stasis: A dusty violin that’s slightly out of tune. Echoes. The clinking of ice in a watered down glass of bourbon. A last resort. A new song, different than the last, but just as enchantingly beautiful. Mesmerizing. A long untouched book with stained pages. Swirly handwriting with a story hidden between its lines. Shattered glass. Resonance. Mystery. Frost settling in fingertips. Moonlight glimmering on snow covered peaks.

Strand: A knife hidden beneath layers of clothing. Addiction. A puppeteer thats never seen. A whisper in a dark alley, alluring, captivating, but eerie. A siren singing in the sea. Mesmerization. A dead tree standing in the center of a golden field. A starved soul receiving nourishment from something it shouldn’t. Poison. Acid rain in a desert. Falling in love with an enemy. Enjoying the pain, the fear, the dread, if only for a moment.

[dartagnantt]

Scout Roguish Archetype | Scouts that scout, not set up ambushes

PDFs of this and more can be found over on at my Patreon here! I release everything for free, so your support makes this possible. I've also started making a new system based off of 5e, 6th Dawn! Become a patron and join the playtest.

This week, as part of a theme most foul, I decided to go upon a foul task and revise our hired killer.

The second the theme this month is tracks, so I used it as an excuse to visit the scout archetype. I'm rather fond of it conceptually, but I will say, I was surprised when I realised that the latter half of its features are a better assassin than the official assassin. They get a second attack as a bonus action and can sneak attack with it too! Damn! That said, as cool as those are, I don't think a scout is best embodied by its ability to do devastating ambushes. Moreover, the rogue's base featureset is pretty good at doing that on it's own if you want to go that way. So, I opted to focus on mobility and detection.

Pathfinder

I won't lie, I couldn't resist calling this pathfinder. I didn't have to, but I wanted to. Anyway, the 5e scout gets nature and survival, which definitely gives it a ranger vibe, which is cool but not really the part of the ranger that fits this concept, instead I decided they'd be really good at navigating, reading maps, and making maps.

Skirmisher

This feature is really good in the base scout, so I kept it, and kind of made it its defining feature

Superior Mobility

While I kept the name of the scout feature, I decided that, as a class that can dash as a bonus action, they don't really need an additional 10 feet of movement speed. But they can probably do with other forms of mobility. Also, if you're going about in nature, not being slowed down sounds like a good idea.

Lookout

I'm not the proudest of this feature, seeing as half of it is part of my modified (and the oneD&D) alert feat, but quite frankly I had to try really hard not to make this subclass the Alert feat archetype. Which I mostly succeeded. But these are important skills for a scout to have. I am amused that it's basically the opposite of the lookout feature the other one gets.

Unfond Farewell

I enjoyed naming this one. This isn't much, but it does give the scout more to do during combat, instead of stuff largely surrounding combat.

Right Place, Right Time

I'm not sure if I'll keep this feature going into 6th dawn, but I have been toying with the concept that this one pulls off for a while. How did the monk or rogue evade the fireball and take no damage? By not being in the area, of course

And now to plug my stuff. I release homebrews weekly over on my Patreon. Anyone who pledges $1 or more per post don't have to wait a month to see them, and also help fund my being alive habit.

At the moment, they have exclusive access to the following:

Poisons: Reapplied

Finding the Trail

Skill Challenges

College of Epics

I also have four classes, and two splatbooks over on DriveThruRPG to check out:

The Rift Binder. A class specialising in summoning monsters and controlling the battlefield.

The Witch Knight. A class that combines swords and sorcery in the most literal way.

The Werebeast. A class that turns you into a half beast to destroy your foes.

The Beguiler. A spellcaster dedicated to illusions, enchantments, and general fuckery.

d'Artagnan's Adventurer Almanac. A compendium of races, subclasses, feats, spells, monsters and more!

d'Artagnan's Lycanthrope Survival Guide. A book of lore, stats, and werebeast subclasses for lycanthropes.

[nite0304]

Day 2! The home domain!

From the beginning, I wanted to make a cleric domain for this day, even though cleric already has a bazillion subclasses.

So first, I thought about what greek god has a domain that is not represented among the current clerics. And I eventually wandered to Hestia. While Fire domain is a thing (I think, as I said, there are approximately a thousand cleric subclasses, I don't know them all by memory) the Home part is not represented among a domain.

I wanted this to be a very support-focused subclass, and I think I did that pretty well.

[the-gnomish-bastard]

Dungeons and Dads! Warlock part two: if your dad was the patron! For this one, it varies on how it happened or how you found out.

Archfey? Your dad taught you how to be a lawyer. And a rules lawyer.

Celestial? Dad taught you the ways of god. Specifically, the ways used by the Spanish Inquisition.

Fathomless? Your dad taught you how to fish and gave you his lucky fishing rod.

Fiend? Dad brought you to the cult meeting.

Genie? Your dad spoils you rotten. He loves you very much.

Great Old One? Dad teaches you. About everything. You must know all.

Hexblade? Dad taught you how to duel!

Undead? You’re not actually sure. You seem different from others. You feel a resemblance to the deceased. You’re not sure why or when this happened, but there was that one time when you were hit by a car, but dad assures you that you were just in a coma. After you woke up, eventually you found quite a few books about the occult in your dad’s room.

[dungeonmalcontent]

Party like a bard!

It's been a while since I did a subclass for fun and didn't put it up for sale. This got stuck in my head and I wrote it all out in a day. Full document can be seen here on homebrewery.

It all started with the words "bard college" and "party" and that very quickly became "college party" which transformed into the "College of Party(ing)" and I kind of wanted the name of the subclass to be as messy as possible. The whole doc is kind of intentionally messy if you go look at the whole thing.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. This probably won't be seeing updates and refinements (because I have bigger projects going on and this is for free).

[padraigshomebrewworkshop]

Rogue: The Generalist (V0.2)

Alright, here's an updated version of the subclass. Thank you @homebrew-a-la-traumaverse for your feedback! I am also starting to reword somethings to fit typical subclass wordings, giving names for each feature, etc. I also have two potential revisions for the 17th level Magical Studies, with the other being at very bottom of the post, denoted by a *.

Flavor: It is to be expected for adventurers to learn and grow as they venture out into the world, but some rogues take this to the extreme. Generalist rogues are those who have dedicated themselves to learning various disciplines, though not necessarily mastering them. As such, they have learned to pick up on various skills through mere observation and putting them into practice with a combination of keen intuition and muscle memory.

There are various reasons a rogue would follow this path. They may be an exceptionally curious individual who wishes to learn all they can, not restricting themselves to a singular line of study. Or perhaps if they are a spy or charlatan, they follow this path in order to make their disguises even more convincing. After all, you can't make a convincing wizard if you are unable to cast even a single spell.

Quick Study (3rd Level): You gain a new action called Study. Using your action or bonus action while observing a creature use a skill or tool they are proficient in allows you to mimic said proficiency. An unwilling creature can make a Charisma (Deception) check against your Study DC (DC = 8 + proficiency bonus + Intelligence), with you failing to mimic the proficiency if they succeed. These mimicked proficiencies are imperfect, granting only half your proficiency bonus to checks made with said mimicked proficiency and cannot be increased by features such as Expertise. However, the bonus increases at certain levels, granting your proficiency bonus to mimicked proficiencies at 9th level and double your proficiency at 13th level.

You can have a number of these mimicked proficiencies equal to your amount of Sneak Attack die, with any new mimicked proficiency replacing one of your choice.

Keen Insight (3rd Level): You can use your Study action to instead observe a creature mannerisms, as long as you can see said creature. They make a Charisma (Deception) check against your Study DC. If they fail, you can automatically add your Sneak Attack to the next attack made against that creature without needing to meet Sneak Attack's usual requirements. You also gain the following benefits: you have advantage on Insight and Charisma checks made against this creature for the next minute and you learn if this creature has any resistances.

Preferred Subject (9th Level): You further your studies, either dipping into the study of magic or the use of martial weaponry. Choose one of the following:

Martial Studies: You gain proficiency in the Athletics skill, or double proficiency if you are already proficient. You can use your Study action to now mimic proficiency in a weapon or armor. Any melee weapon you mimic cannot have the two handed or heavy property and you can only mimic proficiency in medium armors or shields. Weapons you mimic proficiency in have the finesse property for you and any armor you mimic proficiency in do not cause you to roll at disadvantage for Stealth checks. You can have a number of martial proficiencies mimicked equal to half your Rogue level (rounded down).

Magical Studies: You gain proficiency in the Arcana skill, or double proficiency if you are already proficient. You can use your Study action to mimic the use of a spell. The spells you mimic are known to you and Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these mimicked spells. You can mimic a total amount of spells equal to half your Rogue level (rounded down), where the base level of each spell counts towards this limit (ex. a 10th level Rogue can mimic one 3rd level spell and one 2nd level spell). Cantrips count as 1/2 a level. You also gain a pool of magical energy, known as Spell Points, that are used to cast these mimicked spells. The amount you have is equal to the amount of Sneak Attack die you have and they are regained on a long rest. The amount of points used to cast a spell determines the level of the spell cast, meaning you may up-cast a spell by using more points. Cantrips do not consume points.

Worldly Knowledge (13th Level): You have become exceptionally canny thanks to your travels. You gain proficiency in up to five of the following things: a language, a tool, or a skill.

You can also mimic how a language is spoken (if you hear it be spoken) and/or written (if you see it be written) if you observe a creature proficient in said language used in one of the previously stated ways for one minute. This proficiency is flimsy, only lasting for 10 minutes and only granting you the ability to get across basic concepts in the language.

Prying Eye (13th Level): You are able to deduce even more about someone through your observation. You gain additional benefits when using your Keen Insight feature: you learn if it has any immunities (damage or condition), the creature has disadvantage on attack rolls made against you until the end of your next turn, and you can confer the benefits of your study to another creature that can hear you immediately as a reaction.

True Polymath (17th Level): Your ability to learn has far exceeded expectations. You gain the other option you did not choose for your Preferred Subject feature and the one you did is enhanced in one of the following ways:

Martial Studies: You can now mimic proficiency in heavy and two handed melee weapons, as well as with heavy armors. You can also make a second attack when attacking with either a weapon you are normally proficient in or whos proficiency you mimicked.

Magical Studies: You can cast a spell you mimicked without using Spell Points once per day, for each of the spells you mimicked, as long as it is 5th level or lower. You also regain any expended spell points on a short rest.

*The other potential Magical Studies feature at 17th level would replace the free cast with: When you make a spell attack with a spell you mimicked, you can add half your Sneak Attack die (rounded down) to the damage of the spell, as if it was an attack made with a finesse or ranged weapon. This can be done as long as the attack follows the other requirements of the Sneak Attack feature.

Again, any feedback or suggestions are welcome! Thank you!

[thefirstknife]

Was looking through some older posts of yours and you had answered in an ask about Guardians changing classes and Rezzyl Azir/Dredgen Yor that:

“So while they may be naturally attune more towards some aspect of Light wielding, they still have to train to actually become their class in full.”

Can you elaborate a little more on that. Like how long would that take and how extensive of the training? Has there been any lore going more into detail about that?

Sorry if that’s a lot. Thank you for everything you do for this community it’s Greatly appreciated!!

It's okay!

Unfortunately, we don't really know how that took place. With Rezyl Azzir/Dredgen Yor it's super hard to say because he's very much a mythologised figure. His transformation into Yor was so mysterious and complete that most people never knew it used to be Rezyl and that was by his own design.

So how long it took him to get into the persona of Dredgen Yor and start behaving more like a Hunter? We have no clue. It might have been a gradual transformation as the Thorn corruption was spreading. Also, since we have no information on Dredgen Yor ever using any Light abilities, we don't even know if he only dressed as Hunter or if he started using what we would typically associate with Hunter abilities. So ultimately we don't even know if he actually trained in any Hunter disciplines.

This is especially a problem for Dredgen Yor in particular because he was such a reviled figure that I don't think he would've had the option to actually have a Hunter or Hunters teaching him. He might've learned through observation only and learned what he could. It was also fairly imperfect for him, as you can see on his cloak that the Hunter symbol isn't quite made properly. This maybe hints that without a proper teacher and enough time, one can't really learn these things easily. But that's purely speculative.

Felwinter also doesn't specify how long it took him to learn cross-class abilities (he learned shoulder charge from Titans). He of course didn't switch his class entirely, but learning other abilities surely takes time. However, we don't know how much time.

Outside of simply gameplay reasons, that's a really interesting question. Perhaps Ghosts have something to do with, as well as maybe some intrinsic attunement to the Light. Maybe the way the Light manifests in someone newly rezed is innately more geared towards a specific type of ability. But then in order to truly perfect this ability, one has to train for it. It's very unclear how it works and we have no idea what are all the elements that affect someone becoming a class or choosing a subclass.

There's some information on newly rezed Guardians in lore. For example, this one from Ghost Stories which is a Ghost recounting his experience with rezing his Guardian for the first time and that Guardian being forced to fight the moment she was rezed:

Problem was… my Guardian—the one I'd spent a very long time looking for—was lying dormant in their path: a lifeless husk in need of a wake-up call before her remains were atomized and I was left, for eternity, without my chosen. That I'd found her seconds before the Red Legion's survey team arrived was… unfortunate. But I had to do what I had to do. Some risks, after all, are worth taking. It was now or never. And besides, there's no timing like bad timing. I opened myself up to the Traveler's gift and enveloped her in Light just as the mining rig settled. My new Guardian gasped and sat up, crying out as if waking from a nightmare.

Basically, the Ghost had to rez her before the remain would be permanently destroyed, becoming unrecoverable. After the initial shock, the Guardian immediately started fighting. With her bare hands. No Light was used and there's no real indication of her class or subclass. There's a mention of her charging, but it's not clear if this is a Titan-type charge. Dodging is also mentioned. Nothing about Light is shown. I'm thinking that it's far more likely that new Guardians don't pick any specific class/subclass until a bit later and that us being rezed with a class is just a gameplay feature. Basically, all Guardians have the potential to use Light and to attune to certain abilities, but at the end of the day they still have to be taught and learned.

Osiris also recounts his experience of seeing Aunor being rezed for the first time.

"I remember the day you were raised," Osiris says with hushed strength. "Curled up beneath a ruined bus, screaming for help. Too terrified to listen to your Ghost, too frightened to hold the gun it had nudged under the wreck for you."

It seems getting to a weapon was more important than Light, possibly because newly rezed Guardians aren't really capable of doing anything specific with it. Which means they have to learn it later, possibly through exploring it on their own or with a teacher (or both). There has to be something innate about it, I think; that everyone's spark is inherenty leaning more into some specific way to use the Light, which then turns into a class through training and learning. Osiris himself is shown, very early in the Dark Age, as wielding Dawnblade. We don't know how long it's been since he was rezed here, but Dawnblade is very much defined almost exactly as we know it even that early in the Dark Age. Very curious.

Already mentioned Felwinter, but if you look at his lore book, he is never shown using the Light here. When he's rezed, he's just confused and in danger, mostly shown running away and using weapons. When he fights a Warlord over what would later become Felwinter's Peak, it is only said that Felwinter shot the Warlord's Ghost. On page 4 of the lore book, Felwinter meets another Exo Guardian and they get into a fight against the frames and only the other Exo is shown using the Light, much to his own surprise:

It was Gryphon who saved them in the end, with three bolts of Arc Light that erupted out of his hands. As the frames closest to them disintegrated in a shower of blue light, Gryphon whooped and said, breathlessly, "I've never done that before."

This is super vague as far as Light abilities go. No clue what class Gryphon-11 would be here. He was capable of using the Light, though clearly has not done so before, and his Light isn't defined into any specific class or ability.

Felwinter later became known for being a void user, but it seems that only came to prominence after he joined with the Iron Lords. He probably ended up favouring the Warlock class for a variety of reasons, but he wasn't really rezed as one in the same sense that it happens to us in the game.

This has also been shown with Zavala in his story trailer. He is never shown using his Light in his early fights; the first time we see him wielding it in the trailer is later in the City.

It's a really interesting thing to think about and so far, we've seen a lot of different things, both in lore and gameplay itself. Lore seems to imply that when a Guardian is rezed, they don't immediately know their class and they don't use their Light right away. But then again, in gameplay we get the Light really quickly. Could also be to indicate that the Young Wolf is special! But either way, there's still a lot that's not super well defined and now with Lucent Hive, the'es even more questions. Seems like the reason they mimic our classes and subclasses is probably because that's what Savathun learned while exploring the Light, as well as possibly something tied to Ghosts and how they've learned that Guardians work. I'm hoping for more on the Lucent Hive over this topic, as their experience would be unique and allow us to study the process in a way that we couldn't do back in the Dark Age.