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5e Homebrew - Spellblade, an arcane/intelligence "Paladin...
2 years ago
Hey, I occasionally make homebrew 5e content that never gets used in my own games, but instead of collecting dust, thought I'd put it here for people to find. It's probably a little rough and would need a little balance tuning perhaps, but here you go:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/.....it?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/.....it?usp=sharing
CORE STATS AND PROFICIENCES:
-WEAPONS AND ARMOR: I'm a little skeptical of this getting heavy armor. I'd recommend light, medium, shields.
-SKILLS: why are the only non-INT based skills acrobatics and athletics? This class is heavily focused on Abjuration, and I think that Perception and Insight would be a better choice than Acrobatics. Acrobatics should also not be on the skill list of any class with heavy armor, imo.
MAGIC SURGE: the ability to restore other people's spell slots is really interesting and a good way to distinguish the class.
-The pool of points needs a name. For now I'm calling it a Surge Pool, and the individual points in your pool Surge Points!
-1 point per spell level could be abused very easily, so consider using the Sorcery Point formula to make higher level spells more costly to replenish.
---Spell Slot Lv | Surge Pool Cost---
1st | 2
2nd | 3
3rd | 5
4th | 6
5th | 7
--doing this also caps the maximum spell level you can restore in this way to 5th level, which makes sense thematically [this class stops at 5th level casting, how come they can replenish higher level spells even when they can't cast them?] and fits in with 5e's design decisions that any casting of 6th+ lvl spells is a rare and world-altering event.
-for the dispel effect: how do you determine which effect gets chosen? does the Spellblade learn all magic affecting the target upon use of this ability and then choose which effect they want dispelled? that's EXTREMELY POWERFUL. add a clause that says the SB needs to know what affect they are targeting, and if they choose not to declare a specific effect they are counterspelling, the lowest spell-level effect is dispelled instead.
ARCANE SMITE: generally "Chromatic" spells that have modular elemental damage use the "Big 5:" acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder. Force is an absurdly good damage type and should not be given out freely. Smite is extremely powerful as an ability and can scale very rapidly, so I don't think force is an appropriate type.
ESOTERIC REINFORCEMENT: "When you reach 3rd level, you can exert your energies to possibly counter the effects of outside magics. If you fail a saving throw against a spell or other magical effect, you can reroll your save *AS A REACTION.* You must use the result of the second roll." <- you need to declare you can use this ability as a reaction or else it can only be used as a regular action, thus making it useless as a saving ability since most saving throws don't happen on your turn.
AURA OF CONCENTRATION: I really, really like this. Between Magic Surge and Aura of Concentration, this gives the Spellblade a legitimate niche as a frontliner who is designed to support casters.
AURA OF CLEAR MIND: this is powerful but limited in scope. It will likely save the Spellblade's life once or twice and that will be a great moment for anyone who chooses to play this class.
COUNTERSTRIKE: this is just differentiated enough from the Mage Slayer feat to make it a class feature. Very good and on theme.
==FOCUS OF SUPRESSION==
This feels like it is what the class wants to be, it's so on-theme to how I envision playing this class that it makes Focus of Destruction feel vestigial in comparison. THIS IS A GOOD THING!!!
-FOCUS SPELLS:
--Absorb Elements is already a good spell and on the list of spells this class would want anyway. Replace it with Armor of Agathys to give this subclass more exclusive abilities
--Aid is not a very good spell and honestly not worth the spell slots, so it feels bad that it's a mandatory spell added to your spellbook. Replace it with Warding Bond
--Make Banishment an exclusive spell and take it off the main list.
---all the other spells are on theme and good choices
-ARCANE EXPLOIT-
--Spellblade's Ward: reward it so that players don't think they add x2 their INT. “...you can use your reaction to reduce the damage the target takes by an amount equal to your Intelligence Modifier + twice your Proficiency Bonus.” [unless you INTENDED for it to be x2 int + x2 prof]
-CAPTURE MAGIC: instead of restoring spell slots, have it restore your Surge Pool instead. That way you can use your ability to capture magic to fuel other casters and better act as your roll as caster support. Also I don't like that's randomly a twice per long rest feature when everything else is either 1/Long Rest or IntMod/Day.
“Starting at 7th level, when you or an ally within your Aura of Concentration succeed on a saving throw, or you end a magical effect with your Magic Sure feature or an abjuration spell, you can can absorb the remnant magics to increase the Surge Points in your Surge Pool by the same number of points required to replenish a spell slot of the spell's level. If you use this feature on a spell level higher than 5th, you regain 7 Surge Points.”
-SUPPRESS MAGIC: excellent feature, no notes.
-FOCUS MASTERY: ABJURATION: legendary resistance as a capstone is pretty neat. I like it.
==FOCUS OF DESTRUCTION==
the way this was originally written, it feels like this subclass ate a missing, third subclass that was specialized in transmutation. This is an evocation subclass. Lean into it, make them go boom!
-FOCUS SPELLS:
--Searing Smite and Thundering Smite are redundant. Get rid of one, swap one with Hellish Rebuke
--Magic Weapon is redundant when you also have Flame Blade. Swap it for Shatter or Snowball Storm
--Fireball and Lightning Bolt are redundant together. Swap with Elemental Weapons or Blinding Smite so that you get a casty-casty option AND a martial-focused option. In fact I'd take Fireball of the base spell list entirely and make it subclass exclusive.
--Make Storm Sphere exclusive to this subclass and remove it from the base list.
--Immolation is a bad spell and redundant to Destruction Wave. Swap Immolation with Steel-Wind Strike
-ARCANE EXPLOIT:
--Explosive Strike: You didn't declare what action type this is. the way this is worded, anyone BESIDES the initial target caught in the cone is taking automatic damage with no save or hit check. That is JANK AS HELL and could lead to some weird strategies, so I would give secondary targets a saving throw. You also didn't declare what type of action it was to use Explosive Strike, which means that it defaults to being an Action.
---if you make it part of the attack action, that means you can start doing jank like stacking arcane smite onto your explosive strike, which could get nasty fast.
---if you make it part of a bonus action, it would mean that the only way to stack damage on the explosion would be to pre-cast a spell like Thunderous Smite on the turn prior and then go in for the explosion. That amount of setup I think is acceptable for how good turning your smite into an AOE could be.
“Explosive Strike: You can use your Arcane Exploit to channel an explosive force into your blow. When you hit a creature with a melee attack, you can declare your attack to be an Explosive Strike as a bonus action. All creatures in a 15ft cone centered on the attack target must make a Strength Saving Throw equal to your Spell Save DC. Those that fail take force damage equal to half the damage taken by the initial target. Those that succeed take the force damage equal to the minimum possible damage dealt by the attack against the initial target, as if you had rolled all 1s on your damage dice.”
---The minimum damage clause means you can still get some respectable chip on foes since most AOE saves allow for partial damage on success.
--Overcharged: Very flavorful and on-theme. However IMO a free maximize spell for the low cost of HP is dangerous. I'd reword it to make it a flat bonus to damage dice.
“Overcharged: You can use your Arcane Exploit to force dangerous amounts of your own energy into your spells. You can use your bonus action to use this Arcane Exploit and deal 2d12 force damage to yourself. This self-damage ignores resistance and immunity. Until the start of your next turn, targets damaged by your evocation spells take bonus damage equal to the amount force damage you took. If more than one creature is targeted by your evocation spells, they all take the bonus damage. Targets cannot take this bonus damage more than once before the start of your next turn.”
---This makes this feature more explicitly risk-reward because there's a direct correlation between the self-inflicted damage and the damage dealt to enemies.
-FLARING AURA: I would change this to end at the START of your next turn, not the END of your next turn, otherwise you could fall into some strange double-dipping situations, esp when the range gets extended. Otherwise this is a GREAT ability I love it.
-DESTRUCTIVE CHANNELING: this feels like it belongs on a Transmutation specialist, not an Evocation one.
Instead of imitating Tenser's Transformation, I would consider imitating Blade Barrier
-FOCUS MASTERY: DESTRUCTION: it's a worse meteor swarm, but getting to delete a room full of people is pretty fun. If you want to be an Evocation Specialist this is a fine captsone!
==OTHER FOCUSES AND SUBCLASSES==
I don't like that Path of Destruction is trying to be an evocation and a transmutation subclass at the same time. I would make a new one called the Path of Changes / Path of Alteration if you wanted to make an area control engine with this class.
My rough cut of what this subclass could do:
-[3rd]Use Arcane Exploit to extend melee reach, which synergizes with other Spellblade features and could make this class dangerous when combined with feats like Sentinel. It's a great way to make this class control focused while the other subclasses are Defense and Damage focused.
-[3rd]Use Arcane Exploit to create a Spike Growth effect centered on you in the same way Path of Suppression imitates Silence
-[7th]Bolstering Aura: Allies in the Aura gain Temp HP = to your proficiency modifier, they cannot gain Temp HP in this more than once per battle
-[15th]Channel Transformation: this is where you want to be mimicking Tenser's Trasnformation
-[20th]Diet Time Stop: if you're giving out 9th level spell-like abilities as captstones, Transmutation specialists should be definitely be based on Time Stop.
The spell list is good, but it's too good. It's got way too many options, and that means that your choice of subclass doesn't matter as much because it's not giving you access to spells you couldn't get otherwise like Paladin Oaths and Warlock Patrons provide. You could cut the spell list in half here because there's also a lot of redundancy.
There's way too much enchantment, illusion, and necromancy for a class that's basically an ascended Eldritch Knight. There's also WAY too much utility on here for a spell list that has staples like Haste and Fireball. Half Casters should pick a niche, THEY SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO DO EVERYTHING MAGIC CAN DO. That's what bards, clerics, and wizards are for.
Revised Spell List, with everything I slashed:
=1st Level=
Absorb Elements
Burning Hands
Catapult
Color Spray
Chromatic Orb
Comprehend Languages
Detect Magic
Earth Tremor
False Life
Feather Fall
Fog Cloud
Frost Fingers
Ice Knife
Identify
Jump
Longstrider
Magic Missile
Shield
Tasha's Caustic Brew
Tenser's Floating Disk
Thunderous Smite
Thunderwave
Unseen Servant
Witch Bolt
=2nd Level=
Aganazzar's Scorcher
Alter Self
Arcane Lock
Blur
Borrowed Knowledge
Branding Smite
Cloud of Daggers
Darkvision
Detect Thoughts
Dragon's Breath
Dust Devil
Earthbind
Enhance Ability
Flaming Sphere
Gust of Wind
Hold Person
Invisibility
Kinetic Jaunt
Levitate
Magic Weapon
Maximilian's Earthen Grasp
Melf's Acid Arrow
Mirror Image
Misty Step
Pyrotechnics
Rime's Binding Ice
Scorching Ray
See Invisibility
Shatter
Snilloc's Snowball Swarm
Spider Climb
Web
=3rd Level=
Animate Dead
Ashardalon's Stride
Counterspell
Dispel Magic
Elemental Weapon
Erupting Earth
Fly
Glyph of Warding
Haste
Intellect Fortress
Leomund's Tiny Hut
Lightning Bolt
Magic Circle
Melf's Minute Meteors
Nondetection
Protection from Energy
Remove Curse
Sending
Sleet Storm
Thunder Step
Tidal Wave
Wall of Sand
Wall of Water
Water Breathing
=4th Level Spells=
Confusion
Conjure Minor Elementals
Control Water
Dimension Door
Elemental Bane
Evard's Black Tentacles
Fabricate
Fire Shield
Greater Invisibility
Ice Storm
Leomund's Secret Chest
Locate Creature
Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound
Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum
Otiluke's Resilient Sphere
Staggering Smite
Stone Shape
Stoneskin
Vitriolic Sphere
Wall of Fire
Watery Sphere
=5th Level Spells=
Animate Objects
Banishing Smite
Bigby's Hand
Circle of Power
Cone of Cold
Conjure Elemental
Control Winds
Dawn
Destructive Wave
Far Step
Hold Monster
Immolation
Legend Lore
Mislead
Modify Memory
Rary's Telepathic Bond
Scrying
Skill Empowerment
Steel Wind Strike
Telekinesis
Teleportation Circle
Transmute Rock
Wall of Force
Wall of Light
Wall of Stone
Again, really appreciate the detailed look over, suggestions, and fixes, plus I really like the idea of a transmuter focus! Definitely looking forward to implementing these ideas into the class. When I finish that, do you mind if I send you a link of the updated copy?