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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Feat: Touch of the Elements



Gnomes2169
2014-11-09, 02:32 AM
Hey, so one of my players wanted to play a cleric with resistance to lightning damage (Just as a character concept, he wanted to be a Cleric of Zekrom). However, dragonborn isn't the best of all races for a cleric, and since this is his first game (he's pretty much an exclusive 3.5 player right now), I wanted him to have a bit more fun and freedom. So I came up with this feat here. Any feedback/ comments are more than welcome.

Touch of the Elements: You are attuned to one of the primal forces of nature in some way. Perhaps you are favored by an elemental lord, perhaps you were born under a certain sign, or perhaps your mind just seems to grasp the flow and ebb of this natural energy, but it is eager to serve you and you are resilient to its dangerous effects. As well, you can understand those that use it to speak, and can respond in kind.
-Chose one of the following energy types; Acid, cold, fire, lightning, necrotic, radiant or thunder. You gain resistance against damage of this type.
-When you make damage rolls of your chosen energy type, reroll any damage dice that show a 1. This effect may only be used once per roll.
-You learn the Primordial language.

Draken
2014-11-09, 09:33 PM
Looks like a pretty good feat.

Ziegander
2014-11-09, 09:55 PM
Looks like a pretty good feat.

I concur. Seems like a balanced, non-caster answer to the Elemental Adept feat.

Ramshack
2014-11-10, 11:51 AM
I agree this looks balanced enough

Ralanr
2014-11-11, 09:21 AM
So just resistance? I'd imagine being able to deal damage in that. But then again I know nothing of balance. Looks good regardless.

Gnomes2169
2014-11-11, 10:29 AM
Thanks for the positive feedback everyone! :smallbiggrin:


So just resistance? I'd imagine being able to deal damage in that. But then again I know nothing of balance. Looks good regardless.

For damage, rerolling 1's and 2's on damage dice would count towards that, methinks...

Ralanr
2014-11-11, 10:56 AM
Thanks for the positive feedback everyone! :smallbiggrin:



For damage, rerolling 1's and 2's on damage dice would count towards that, methinks...

I meant elemental damage. Sorry I should have said that.

Ziegander
2014-11-11, 12:05 PM
For damage, rerolling 1's and 2's on damage dice would count towards that, methinks...


I meant elemental damage. Sorry I should have said that.

What he seems to mean is that he would have expected a way to add elemental damage to your attacks. It might not be balanced, but something like a combination of dragonborn breath weapon and paladin smite so that on a successful hit you deal 2d6 extra damage of the chosen energy type on a that attack, 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, 5d6 at 16th level, recharge after a short or long rest could work. Just adding this to what the feat already does would certainly make it unbalanced, you'd have to take something away to add this, and I think the feat is fine as is.

Gnomes2169
2014-11-11, 05:14 PM
What he seems to mean is that he would have expected a way to add elemental damage to your attacks. It might not be balanced, but something like a combination of dragonborn breath weapon and paladin smite so that on a successful hit you deal 2d6 extra damage of the chosen energy type on a that attack, 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, 5d6 at 16th level, recharge after a short or long rest could work. Just adding this to what the feat already does would certainly make it unbalanced, you'd have to take something away to add this, and I think the feat is fine as is.

Ahhhhh, yeah, that would be a bit much. Just leaving it as is seems fine to me for now, no need to add more damage just yet (though that does bring up the point that, as written, the rerolls would work on any magic weapons that dealt the damage type as well).

Ziegander
2014-11-11, 10:54 PM
(though that does bring up the point that, as written, the rerolls would work on any magic weapons that dealt the damage type as well).

Indeed, which is what makes it a cool, non-caster option, in my opinion. I'd thought that was your original intention (considering Elemental Adept requires the ability to cast at least one spell).

EDIT: Though, now that I'm comparing them directly, this awkwardly seems slightly more useful than Elemental Adept. You trade resistance piercing in order to gain resistance to your chosen element (which seems fair), you get to reroll both 1s and 2s, rather than simply turn rolled 1s into 2s (mathematically superior), you can do this for both spell and non-spell damage rolls (laterally superior), you learn a new language (flat-out giving you an additional benefit over what Elemental Adept does), and all of this with no prerequisites and your choice of any energy type rather than being limited to acid, cold, electricity, fire, or thunder.

Ralanr
2014-11-12, 10:11 AM
I probably should have said that I thought it would deal with elemental damage. It's a good feat regardless.

Gnomes2169
2014-11-12, 12:09 PM
Indeed, which is what makes it a cool, non-caster option, in my opinion. I'd thought that was your original intention (considering Elemental Adept requires the ability to cast at least one spell).

EDIT: Though, now that I'm comparing them directly, this awkwardly seems slightly more useful than Elemental Adept. You trade resistance piercing in order to gain resistance to your chosen element (which seems fair), you get to reroll both 1s and 2s, rather than simply turn rolled 1s into 2s (mathematically superior), you can do this for both spell and non-spell damage rolls (laterally superior), you learn a new language (flat-out giving you an additional benefit over what Elemental Adept does), and all of this with no prerequisites and your choice of any energy type rather than being limited to acid, cold, electricity, fire, or thunder.

Hmmm... I probably should limit it to the "big 5," now that you mention it... But given the campaign world I made, making it into the "big 7" instead (radiant and necrotic on top of that) would fit better fluff wise, and doing the same thing for Elemental Adept does fit the setting. Changing it to "reroll 1's" as well should balance out the damage curve a bit, and being unable to take it more than once (which you can do with elemental adept) makes the choice much more limiting.

Draken
2014-11-14, 08:09 AM
If you did replace the reroll bit with extra damage, 1d4 per attack (no scaling) would probably be the highest acceptable value.

Ramshack
2014-11-14, 01:55 PM
I think if you want to add elemental damage you do something like this:

When a player has this feat, and they deal damage with a weapon, they may choose to deal *elemental type* damage instead of slashing, bludgeoning or piercing as normal.