Favored Soul Redone [PEACH]

[JRDS]

When WotC decided to make the Favored Soul a Sorcerer subclass, I was thrilled. "That's a great idea!" I thought. When I looked over the result of their efforts I was simultaneously impressed by the port over from 3.5 where it was its own class, and let down by how unimaginative it was. Why would a sorcerer want a second attack? Unless they took the War Domain, I didn't see it getting much use. Additionally, none of this screamed "favorite of a god" to me. More like, sorcerer that became a sorcerer because a god said "hey you're pretty cool now you know magic."

I decided to set out and create my own interpretation of what a Favored Soul should be. Thus, straight from the Homebrewery, I present Favored Soul Redone (http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/HJZnNKX6q). The only things I kept were the bonus domain spells and the wings. I removed the Extra Attack in favor of a series of options (pick 1) that allow you to use sorcery points in order to elicit some effect. Which range from getting an attack similar to the Cleric's War Domain bonus at level 1, to healing yourself and allies.

Sorcery points though can be a precious resource, so I also added an ability to recover 1 sorcery point if you roll a nat 20 on an attack or skill check roll. I'm not sure how balanced that is. You have more options for your points so in theory you'll use them more often, so to balance that out you get one back every so often? Eeeh, I'd like advice/thoughts on that.

The level 18 bonus WotC used was healing yourself if you cast a domain spell. In Favored Soul Redone, I created different options based on your domain. Life domain keeps the healing, while say Nature domain gives you resistance to a number of different damage types for a few turns.

Lastly, instead of the proficiency bonus for armor and weapons, I gave the Favored Soul the *guidance* cantrip... with a scaling boost as you level up in Favored Soul. -That- speaks to me of "favorite of a god." Also, however, unsure of how balanced that is. Let me know your thoughts!

Any feedback is appreciated! :)

[Arkhios]

I'm not sure if I like sorcery point cost for the optional Divine Attack, and I would add a notion that it doesn't stack with Extra Attack feature, because now it would create a bit too powerful mix with the martials multiclassing into your Favored Soul.

The additional radiant damage could be left "behind" the cost though. Maybe worded similarly as Divine Smite ("Additionally, when you hit with a weapon attack, you may expend 2 (or 3) sorcery points to deal extra radiant damage equal to your charisma modifier. The damage is doubled against fiends or undead"). This way you could deal the extra damage more than once per turn, but it would be expensive enough to consider if you wanted to use all of your points doing it.


Otherwise I actually like your take on it, though I'm still a bit iffy about one sorcerer origin giving extra spells known. As long as other origins don't grant any, an origin that does is by far superior against the others.
I would much rather have the domain spells function like an expanded list, like the Patron Spells for Warlock; you'd get access to additional spells from your domain instead of learning them automatically.

[JRDS]

Making it cost a sorcery point makes it match the War Priest ability that Clerics with the War Domain get at level 1. That is, as a bonus action they can make a single attack if they take the attack action on their turn. War Priest was the inspiration for Divine Attack.

Options are,
use a sorcery point or not
use a bonus action or not
add bonus damage or not add it immediately or at the cost of sorcery points

Your argument about the bonus spells is compelling. My only concern about that is that if I change it I have to change everything about their level 18 feature, which only triggers if you cast a spell from your domain. What is a Favored Soul to do if they decide not to pick any of them?

Edit: Thank you for your response! I really appreciate it. :)

[Arkhios]

I kinda felt like it was inspired by it, but compared to War Priest, with only 1 sorcery point cost you'd be able to use the feature more often than a Cleric of War Domain could use War Priest, and that's a bit bothersome. War Priest is usable a number of times equal to Wisdom Modifier per long rest (caps out at 5 times/long rest), while Divine Attack would end up being usable 20 times per long rest, plus the possible Font of Magic sorcery point pooling. It's just not balanced.

I understand if you don't want to have the sorcerer to get yet another pool of resource (keyed off from charisma instead of wisdom), but in return the sorcery point cost should be slightly bigger, which is why I suggested 2 or 3 sorcery points.

Maybe you could put a limit to the times it's usable, if you want to keep 1 sorcery point cost. Up to a number equal to your Charisma modifier per long rest, to keep it in line with War Priest.



I don't think Power of the Chosen has to trigger only from a domain spell. Not really.

I mean, your Favored Soul already has lots of features linked to the chosen Domain, so why not just make the 18th level feature trigger whenever they cast a spell, as long as it's not a cantrip.
Since the effect of the feature would still rely on the chosen domain, I would say it's already a nice feature in itself. If it feels too strong to be spammed, you could well limit that the feature can take effect only once per short rest or so.

[JRDS]

The changes to the domain spells and the 18th level feature have been made. I also made Divine Attack cost 2 sorcery points for the extra attack, and on a hit you can spend 1 more to make it a magical attack that deals the bonus damage.

Thank you for your feedback thus far, I really appreciate it.:biggrin: