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Giegue
2017-06-13, 04:11 PM
So a while back, I made a "white mage" sorcerer. I've since been tinkering with it a bit, and decided that I wanted to make it more setting neutral instead of a direct reference to Final Fantasy, and this was the result. I wanted to go less "white mage" and make it more of an arcane caster who learns healing and even some "nature-y" themed magics, taking the fluff of white magery from the FF MMO and running with it to create a more druidic sorcererous healer to the Favord Soul's divine sorcerer. It's still very rough however, so I have no idea how balanced it is...hence why I am posting it up. Anybody who has thoughts/ideas on making this more balanced (or whether or not it's fine balance-wise already.) please post here! Any comments are welcome, however. So, here's the archetype...


Sorcererous Origin: Arcane Healer


http://i66.tinypic.com/abnp0n.png

Your spellcasting power comes from the ancient art of arcane healing. Unlike other sorcerers who are simply born with innate magic, you instead draw your magic from a well-established arcane tradition. However, unlike the studious path of the wizard, the art of the arcane healer above all else requires empathy and the ability to exert your will upon the natural magic found within the world. While a wizard studies ancient means of drawing magic from some unknowable, cosmic source, as an arcane healer you tap magic directly from the natural world. However, while a druid bonds with nature, you instead take from it, forcing your will upon the life-giving energies of the world's soul and using them to protect and restore your allies.

As a result of how arcane healing works, it can be potentially destructive to the world. In the past, wanton use of arcane healing, even if it was well-intentioned, lead to catastrophes that nearly destroyed the world's natural balance. Due to this, the art of arcane healing has become a closely guarded secret, taught to only to those who have the empathy and understanding of life's interconnected nature to fully grasp what grave consequences the art can have when used wrongly.

Natural Arcana

Due to your unique brand of magic, you gain access to curative and natural magics beyond the scope of other sorcerers.When your Spellcasting feature lets you learn a sorcerer cantrip or a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher, you can choose the new spell from the druid spell list, in addition to the sorcerer spell list. For the purposes of this feature, the spells Aura of Vitality, Revivify, Death Ward, Raise Dead, Resurrection and True Resurrection are considered to be on the druid spell list. (So you may select them if you have access to their spell levels as if they where spells on the druid spell list.) You must otherwise obey all the restrictions for selecting spells, and any spell you select (regardless of which list it comes from) becomes a sorcerer spell for you. Additionally, you learn the Healing Word spell as a bonus spell known. For you, this spell is a sorcerer spell, and it does not count against your spells known (As-per the sorcerer table)

Healer's Training

As an Arcane Healer, part of your training is the swearing of an oath to preserve life's balance and never twist your magics in ways they do not wish to bend. As a result, when your Spellcasting feature lets you learn a sorcerer cantrip or sorcerer spell known of 1st level or higher, you cannot select a spell from the Sorcerer spell list that deals damage. (You can still select spells from the druid spell list that deal damage as normal.) However, your devotion to the preservation of life and it's balance makes you a more skilled and efficient healer. Whenever you use a spell of 1st level or higher to restore hit points to a creature, that creature regains additional hit points equal to 2 + the spell's level.

Additionally, you train in both the mundane healing arts and the practice of augmenting them with your magic. When you select this Sorcererous Origin, you gain proficiency with Herbalism kits and the Medicine skill. As long as you have at least 1 sorcerery point, you can use your Charisma modifier in place of the ability modifier you would normally add to any Herbalism Kit or Medicine check you make.

Arcane Ward

At 6th level, you gain the ability to weave protective wards that blunt attacks and protect your allies from harm. When you or an ally within 30ft would take damage, you can spend 1 sorcerery point as a reaction to give the character who would take that damage an arcane ward. This ward lasts until you complete a long rest. Until the end of the turn you place a ward on a creature, that creature has resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage. Additionally, when you create a ward, it has hit points and a hit point maximum equal to twice your Sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier. Starting on the turn after you give a creature a ward: when the creature benefiting from the ward takes damage, the ward takes the damage instead. If this damage reduces the ward to 0 hit points, the creature benefiting from it takes any remaining damage.

While the ward has 0 hit points, it can't absorb damage, but it's magic remains. When you cast a spell that heals damage (such as Cure Wounds) on an creature benefiting from a ward, you can restore some of that ward's power, causing it to immediately regain a number of hit points equal to twice the level of the spell you cast on that creature. (up to that ward's hit point maximum; any excess hit points above that are lost.) A character can only benefit from a single ward at at time.You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, and regain all spent uses when you finish a long rest.

Improved Arcane Ward

Eventually your ability to protect allies becomes such that your arcane wards also shields them from spells. Starting at 14th level, when you give an ally a ward with your Arcane Ward feature (but not restore a ward's power with a healing spell), they gain resistance to your choice of acid, cold, fire, lightning, necrotic or thunder damage as long as that ward is providing them with resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage.(You can choose a different damage type for them to gain resistance to each time you give them a ward.) Additionally, your wards also bestow protection from spells; the first time a creature benefiting from a ward given by your arcane ward feature would fail a saving throw after receiving the ward, they can re-roll that saving throw with a bonus equal to your Charisma modifier on that roll.

Master Healer

Starting at 18th level, you become a master healer. When you normally would roll one or more dice to restore hit points with a spell, you instead use the highest number possible for each die. For example, instead of restoring 2d6 hit points to a creature, you restore 12.

zeek0
2017-06-14, 03:12 AM
Cool. Good to see a healing nature sorcerer.

How would you feel about outright replacing the sorcerer list with the druid list? Then, you can add a chart of healing spells as additional subclass spells.

Medicine/herbalism don't seem to fit for me. Medicine is a wisdom/intelligence sort of skill, not something you just pick up. And as a spellcaster you already have plenty of access to healing. If a character feels that medecine/herbalism fits with their character, a background can always full that gap.

Looking at the other features, I shan't comment on their viability. I mostly want some simplification. Many of your features grant three bits at once, which confuses me.

Also, I'd like to see some consideration of theme. You get the druid spell list, but you aren't terribly nature themed. You have the sorcerer spell list, but you can't use half of it. It feels like you want the cleric spell list, based on theme. This is ostensibly arcane magic, but feels like divine.

Basically, as a player I'd be thinking this: why play this instead of a life cleric? A favored soul? A theurge? An abjuration wizard?

Liran Sterling
2017-06-18, 03:41 PM
I like the concept, but really try to think about what sets this apart from existing classes. Is there something truly unique here that a player wouldn't be able to get from another class or a multiclass?