PDA

View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Horatio's Custom Spellbook (Homebrew Hub)



Lord Von Becker
2018-10-25, 09:58 PM
Hey! I've written quite a few new spells, and they aren't all Necromancy this time. Also, I figure it's time I made a hub for my 5e homebrew, as I have rather a lot of it which I haven't yet posted. Please tell me if any of it's broken!

Index:
New Cantrips (below)
New Spells (further below)
Necromancy Rework (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?569045-Necromancy-Overhaul-(PEACH-of-course))
Fighter Stuff (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?577038-Fighter-Reworks-(Second-Wind-Desperation-Moves-Champion-as-The-Fast-Guy))
Two Weapon Fighting and Weapon Supplements (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?577321-Two-Weapon-Fighting-Weapon-Upgrades-Poison-and-a-Paladin-Feat)
Staggering (new condition+damage vulnerability fix) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?599177-Damage-Vulnerability-and-Staggering)
Exploration Stuff (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?599590-Consolidated-Exploration-Homebrew&p=24181230#post24181230)
General Houserules, Capstone Fixes, and New Feats (To Be Posted)
Magic Items and Any Remaining Wealth-By-Level Casualties (To Be Fixed)
Warlock Stuff (To Be Posted)
New and Revised Races (To Be Posted)


On to the cantrips. I'd like feedback for both balance and fluff, here. Some of them deviate considerably from regular cantrip assumptions, but I've done my best to keep those reasonable anyway.

Blade Ward (revised)
Abjuration cantrip
V, S
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 round
You touch an object or a willing creature and name slashing, bludgeoning, or piercing damage in any language you know. The target gains resistance to the specified type until your next turn.

Commentary: If your opponent can understand you and is at least passingly familiar with magic, they can switch weapons to avoid this. Otherwise, it's a pseudo-Rage you can give to others. Fun for the whole party!

True Strike (revised)
Divination cantrip (Bard, Sorceror, Warlock, Wizard)
S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 ft.
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 round
You point a finger at a target in range. Your magic grants you a brief insight into the target's defenses.
If your next attack against that target misses, it is considered to hit anyway. If it hits, it is considered a critical hit. The attack must be made before the spell ends to to obtain this benefit.

Commentary: Should now be solid-but-not-overwhelming. Scales best with dice-only damage (so, most damage spells cast by most archetypes), but also effective against high-AC opponents. Competitive with Green-Flame Blade for Eldritch Knights at levels 3-4. Trades the Concentration slot for more efficient Smiting/Inflict Wounds. Enables a surprisingly flavorful Sorceror 3/Arcane Trickster X build. It gives options!

Ironwood (revised shillelagh)
Transmutation cantrip
M (a weapon you are proficient with)
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 minute
When you hold a weapon you are proficient with, you may warp it in a way which resembles wood growing very quickly. This has the following effects for the duration.
*Its damage die is 1d8.
*You may change its damage type to slashing, bludgeoning, or piercing as a bonus action, and you may apply poison to it with the same bonus action. (If its damage type is bludgeoning it can hold poison, but won't inject it on hit.)
*You may use your spellcasting modifier in place of your Strength or Dexterity for attack or damage rolls with it.
*If it was a flail or had the Versatile property, it gains the Reach property.

Commentary: This is designed to interact with my to-be-posted Druid reworks, as well as my weapon upgrades and poison rules (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?577321-Two-Weapon-Fighting-Weapon-Upgrades-Poison-and-a-Paladin-Feat). It should work okay with the regular rules, though.

Mage Hand (revised)
Evocation cantrip
S
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: 30 ft.
Duration: Until dismissed
You create a floating hand of translucent force, which you control with your mind. It has an effective Strength score of 2 (which equates to a STR mod of of -4, and a carrying capacity of 30 lbs.), and an effective Dexterity equal to your own or your spellcasting ability, whichever is higher.
A mage hand has 1HP and an AC equal to your Spell Save DC. It also has a fly speed of 30, acts on your turn, and if it takes damage or exceeds the spell’s range it is immediately dismissed, dropping whatever it was holding.
You may use a mage hand for practically anything you could do with a normal hand, including to attack or cast touch-range spells, but keeping a mage hand active occupies one of your normal hands for the duration.
The only fighting styles a mage hand can use are Protection and Dueling.

Commentary: I don't believe this is broken. Finesse weapons are already balanced against ranged weapons, and Familiars can channel touch spells with much better range (and the ability to keep up if you Dash). Plus, it lets us have live-action-Sorcerer's-Apprentice-style ranged swordfights. And regular flying swords. It's fun!

Eldritch Blast (revised)
Evocation Cantrip (Warlock)
V, S
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: 120 ft. or Self (60 ft. line)
Duration: Instant
This ability, basic to Warlocks, fires a blast of silvery energy which can push the animating forces from almost anything mobile. It may be used in two ways.

In the first, the power blasts out from you as a line in a direction of your choosing. The line is 5 feet wide, and you may make it any length between 10 and 60 feet. Every creature caught in the line must make a Wisdom save or take 1d4 force damage.

In the second, you narrow it into a beam. Make a ranged spell attack with advantage against one target within 120 feet. On hit, the target takes 1d8 force damage.

The spell’s damage increases by one die when you reach the 5th level (2d4 or 2d8), and again when you reach the 11th (3d4 or 3d8), and 17th levels (4d4 or 4d8).

Commentary: Multiple rays didn't suit the fluff well for me. (When I get around to uploading my Warlock stuff, it will include the update-compatible version of Agonizing Blast.)
Turning what were touch attacks in 3.X into attacks with advantage in 5E makes sense, and attack-with-advantage is roughly equivalent to multiply-damage-by-one-and-a-half, which makes it only slightly better than Toll the Dead.
Also, since learning that it competes fairly directly with the dragonborn breath weapon, I reduced the huge laser form to a d4 progression. I liked it enough to keep it, though.

Punchline
Evocation cantrip (Bard)
V, S
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: Touch
Duration: Instant
With a witty remark, you hit someone or something nearby. Make a melee spell attack. On hit, the target takes magical bashing damage equal to 1d6 plus your spellcasting modifier.

At higher levels, you may make more spell attacks when you cast this. At 5th level you may make two attacks, at 11th you may make three, and at 17th you may make four. You may choose a different target for each.

Commentary: I wanted Extra Attack as a cantrip, and then I happened upon the pun and knew it had to be a Bard thing. The Somatic component is intended to be compatible with improvised weapons. It may still need work - combo ability isn't the only reason Extra Attack is powerful - but I do like it.

Witch Lightning
Evocation cantrip (Druid, Sorceror, Warlock, Wizard)
S, M (a splinter from a lightning-struck tree)
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: 60 ft.
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
You hurl chains of lightning to bind and electrocute. Make a ranged spell attack roll against one target. On hit, that creature or object takes 1d6 lightning damage.
If you are concentrating on this cantrip, and have used it to damage your target since the beginning of your last turn, you may treat the attack roll as an automatic hit and increase the damage die to 1d10.
The spell’s damage increases by one die when you reach the 5th level (2d6 or 2d10), and again when you reach the 11th (3d6 or 3d10), and 17th levels (4d6 or 4d10).

Commentary: Balancing this one is tricky. It's clearly a very good candidate for Quicken Spell, but without it, Ki, or Cunning Action, you don't have a way to keep up with someone Dashing away. And you can also lose your concentration.
On the other hand, assuming peer AC, it's roughly on par with Agonizing Blast or Quickened Fire Bolt once it's set up. Hopefully this isn't broken!

Chromatic Sphere
Evocation Cantrip (Sorceror, Warlock, Wizard)
V, S, M (a chip of opal or multicolored glass)
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: 80 ft.
Duration: Instant
You throw a beautiful ball of kaleidoscopic energy. Make a ranged spell attack roll against the target. On hit, choose Acid, Cold, Fire, Thunder, Lightning, or Poison damage. The target then takes 2d4 damage of the chosen type.
The spell’s damage increases by 2d4 when you reach the 5th level (4d4), and again at 11th (6d4), and 17th levels (8d4).

Commentary: Chromatic Orb is such an interesting concept, but it doesn't scale nearly well enough to be optimal. So I turned it into a cantrip instead.

Lord Von Becker
2018-11-08, 10:05 PM
Bittercold
2nd-level transmutation (Sorcerer, Wizard)
V, S, M (a pinch of lye)
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: 60 ft. (10 ft. cube)
Duration: 1 round
Choose a point within range. You change the nature of a 10 foot cube centered on that point.
When a creature enters the cube or begins its turn there, they take 1d8 Cold damage and must make a Constitution saving throw. On failure, their vulnerability to acid damage is increased by one step for one minute. (Immunity becomes resistance, resistance disappears, and if they had neither they gain vulnerability.)
Creatures which already have a damage vulnerability to acid automatically succeed on this save.

If cast with a higher-leveled spell slot, increase the damage by 1d8 for each slot level above second.

Comments: Punnery! Also, a stackable equivalent to Fairy Fire. More situational, though. Hopefully it isn't broken.

Hexwave
3rd-level enchantment (Bard, Warlock, Wizard)
V
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self (60 ft. sphere)
Duration: Concentration, up to two rounds
You hear an alien tone and use magic to hum along. Every creature which can hear you and is within 60 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw to harmonize correctly, and must repeat the save each time they enter or begin their turn in your radius. On failure, they take 6d6 psychic damage and are deafened until their next turn. (You don't have to make a save.)
Creatures which can't hum automatically fail this save, but creatures which can't hear you for any reason other than the deafness induced by this spell are immune to it.

When cast with a higher-leveled spell slot, the maximum duration increases by one round for every slot level above the third.

Commentary: More punnery, this time for nerds. Also, there ought to be more aesthetically creepy Bard spells. I believe having to stay away from or make sure that all your friends have earmuffs or good Wisdom saves is enough of a balancing factor, here.

Cone of Carcinogen
5th-level transmutation (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)
V, S, M (a fleck of lead)
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: Self (80 ft. cone)
Duration: 1 minute
Made in a fruitless attempt to attain immortality, this spell attempts to blast all necrotic essence from the body.
All creatures in an 80 foot cone must make a Constitution save against your spell save DC. On failure, they become Poisoned for one minute and are infected with All-cancer. On success, they are merely Poisoned for one round.

All-cancer
This disease is not contagious, but may be contracted by magic. It causes disadvantage on Constitution saving throws and halves the effects of healing magic, lasting until cured.

Commentary: Hey, an [Evil] spell! Well, it would be if spells still had that descriptor in 5e. Fun, no? Also, it turns out that there isn't a 'mass cure disease' spell before 9th level, so that's interesting.

Inner Darkness
6th level illusion (Bard, Cleric, Sorceror, Warlock, Wizard)
V, S, M (a pinch of soot)
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: 60 ft.
Duration: 1 minute
You reach into the heart of a creature in view, and pull out a shadow.
The shadow takes form next to you as a void-black duplicate of the creature it was pulled from. If done in battle, the shadow takes place in the initiative order immediately ahead of the source-creature.
*It mimics all the ability scores, equipment, and other features of the creature it was spawned from, as if that creature had just completed a long rest. If this would cause it to duplicate sentient equipment, the duplicate is mindless. The equipment is part of the shadow; no-one else can use it.
*It is hostile to the source-creature and charmed by you. (If you cast this on yourself, it is not charmed.)
*It is an incarnation of its source-creature’s fears, and dissipates if they die. It cannot be frightened or charmed by its source creature, and is always aware of their presence.
*Whenever the source creature is within 60 feet of the shadow and can see it or otherwise discern its position, they may make a wisdom saving throw against your saving throw DC as a reaction. On success, the shadow takes damage equal to half its maximum HP if it is conscious, and cannot take actions on its next turn.
*If the shadow had 0 HP when the source-creature made the save, it is reabsorbed into the source's heart, and the source-creature becomes immune to inner darkness for a year.
If you attempt to cast this spell on a creature whose shadow is already out, or on a shadow given form by this spell, make a Spellcraft check against the original caster's Spell Save DC. On success, you succeed and the first shadow dissipates. On failure, you cast it on yourself, which works even if you would normally be immune to it.

This spell works reliably on any living creature with a CR (or character level, if it doesn't have a CR) equal to or less than yours. If you want to use it on something which doesn't fit those parameters, you must obtain your DM's approval.

Commentary: Whee, evil twins! I’d love to hear guesses for what it’s inspired by; I can’t point to more than Megaman Battle Network and the Dark PC enemies in Second Wind. And the Shadow enemies in the original Alter A.I.L.A., I suppose...

Xoltan’s Superheated Acid Cannon
7th-level conjuration (Sorcerer, Wizard)
V, S, M (a piece of glass quenched in vinegar)
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: Self (120 ft. line)
Duration: Instant
You draw a circle in the air, from which sprays a column of boiling acid 120 feet long and 15 feet wide. All creatures in the line’s area take 8d6 fire damage and 8d6 acid damage, but may make a Constitution save to take only half. The acid then pools in the same area, dealing 2d6 acid damage to anything which enters or begins its turn inside it.
When casting this spell with a higher-leveled spell slot, increase the fire damage by 1d6 and the acid damage by 1d6 for each slot level above 7th.

Commentary: I heard about how heat sped up corrosion, and came up with the idea for a weapon that fired superheated acid. Then I was devising and reworking spells, and decided to port the concept.

Also, have some spell errata.
Shapechange
If you have not taken damage since casting this spell, you may use a new form's HP even if it is higher than your current form's.

Commentary: Turning into a bird should be dangerous, sure, but it shouldn't make you more fragile if you turn into a dragon afterwards. Not unless you get injured, anyway.

Wish
(This replaces the RAW detriments.)
Some things are simply beyond the scope of wish. If, for example, you ask for the moon to turn to cake, or for everyone to age backwards, your GM may rule that this applies in your case. If they do, your wish isn't wasted - you may choose to ask for something else, or for the closest available substitute.
If you successfully use wish in any manner other than to emulate a spell of 8th level or lower, you can't cast wish again for a week.

Commentary: On par with Divine Intervention now. Now to hunt down the remains of the wealth-by-level system...

Simulacrum
(This replaces both the HP difference and everything after 'acting on your turn in combat'. Well, everything except the material component, because that's a separate issue.)
The simulacrum has 1HP, and temporary HP equal to half that of the base creature. You may restore that temporary HP with alchemical supplies, if you have access to them and the simulacrum when you take a long rest.
A simulacrum may benefit from short rests as normal, but only gains the benefits of a long rest when simulacrum is cast on it. This is the only effect simulacrum has when cast on an existing simulacrum.

Commentary: This is partly a Rules As Intended patch, partly a version of Clone with even more potential for interesting shenanigans.