I will respond to you later tonight, just give me some time @Llama.
Printable View
I will respond to you later tonight, just give me some time @Llama.
Full druid spread, as hide armor is medium.
As of the potential subclasses based on D2:
"Summoner" did exactly that, animated first skeletal warriors, then skeletal mages and eventually entire corpses of the dead creatures, essentially as zombies. Multiple at once.
Plus one golem at a time made of clay -> iron(?) -> fire -> blood and bones (iirc)
"Curser" focused on bestowing debilitating effects with ranged AoE curses.
"Poisoner" focused on melee with ritual daggers, empowering his weapon attacks with poison, but also was able to spread poison damage via AoE spells. Plague Blade would fit snugly into sub-class like this.
Also, to answer your pre-edit question, I think you could increase their hit die by one step.
Cool, I think I've got summoner and Poisoner, I don't specifically have a Curser, but I think that the Soul caster fits into a similar role but I can come up with a curser if people really want it, I'll just give plague blade martial weapons then since the class is getting armor, I'm going to up the health since no class with medium has lower then a d8
will definitely need to retool plague blade to fit better, my thought is to keep the damage cost for the poisoned condition of diseased blade, and then I am thinking about giving them something like the paladin smite but instead of radiant damage it is poison damage, the other thought is to have it add their INT as poison damage since they only get one attack.
The other thought is to have the disease blade feature deal damage to those affected by the poisoned condition from the feature, having it either just their INT mod at the end of their turn or something like that
For causing it to spread it could be an action to cause the creature that they have poisoned to have boils grow one them and spurt blood out in a 5 foot radius forcing creatures in the area to make a constitution saving throw or be poisoned as well, tie that into aura of disease and then leave plague touch as is.
So I looked at the diablo poisoner and I think that these abilities capture nicely the feel of the poisoner, I'll look at the curser later, need to tweak the plague blade
So I'm looking at the Curser abilities and it looks like the best way to implement it would be through the hex spell, making it were casting hex on a target is the opening that allows you to lay stronger curses on them through the hex and cause them to spread out from that target, I think I'm going to go with the D3 necromancer as I think those curses are easier to convert over.
I looked at the class. Here's feedback.
Preface: I am not a developer, and I mostly deal in tinkering with monsters, not classes. I am not a fan of the 5e attitude of players always(or almost always) winning, so take this with a grain of salt.
I will also ignore the... Let's say strange formatting and spelling issues. It's clear enough to tell what's going on, so I'll leave that to here.
Spoiler: Core Class1d8 health for something clearly intended as being somewhat wizardly? Oh boy, this is gonna be good.
Medium armor, but only a bone variety? Well, that leaves Hide and nothing else. Try wearing a ribcage for protection, it doesn't work.
At level 2, a permanently active Sanctuary spell against undead. The caveat that they're immune after making the save isn't much help, especially at such a low level. Wisdom also tends to be a bad save for undead, so it just gets better and better.
An automatic fear aura at 6th level? Hrm... Can't think of any other classes with this, but the Fear spell is a 3rd level spell, only accessible from 3rd level, takes an action, and is only slightly more powerful, since it doesn't specify undead, oozes, and constructs with low wisdom being immune... This is too powerful, but probably not by too much. It's passable, but I'd curtail it a bit, maybe make it a higher level thing.
Immunity to poison and Undead Constitution... Level 14 should be powerful enough for that, since the DN probably doesn't have too great of constitution.(Being that Int and Wis seem to be their big traits.) Monks get poison immunity at 10, so this is probably pretty fine.
Lichdom at 20... You know, a few people seem to gripe at that, but I don't really see the problem. Yeah you become immortal, but a smart Wizard can just have a clone ready anyway. Otherwise, do liches actually have anything cool?
Don't get legendary actions(If that were the intention, I wouldn't have even bothered to review this), Paralyzing Touch is okay, I guess... 3d6 cold is less than any cantrip at that level, and it's DC is derived from the Lich's Dex, Con, or Cha, which aren't really crucial to the DN. Con, maybe, but even that probably won't be too high.
The immortality bit is more of a ribbon, really, like the druids living for thousands of years. Mystics have something similar, but less exploitable. I might say that the DN makes a Charisma saving throw to be able to revive? Why charisma, it's because they're forcing their spirit back to the Phylactery. Figure it's better than the others, but I dunno.
Spoiler: Undead LordUndead Swarm's a bit much. Just conjuring 2 skeletons out of thin air at second level is a bit much. Having a 4d8+2 health skeleton servant at no cost forever each day is a bit much. It narrows out at higher levels, though; 6 skeletons means very little against ANY dragon, and a 12d8+20 skeleton might be an okay thing to have against minor things, but they're doing 1d6+10-ish damage once each turn, and are still very fragile, comparatively speaking. Find a way to lower it's effectiveness at lower levels, and you're probably fine. It's better than the necromancer wizard's ability, but not by a ton.
Control Undead is a straight rip at the same level. It's fine.
I'd hesitate to say their capstone is balanced, but I don't think it's wildly unbalancing. You can, at the beginning of each day, conjuring 6 skeletons, then giving them and any other undead that you've conjured, 18 temp. hit points, and 2d8 extra damage on each attack. Again, I don't think it's too bad... Maybe put a limit on how many undead it could effect.
Because in a hypothetical scenario, you have 2 mummies, 2 wights, 14 ghouls, and 60 zombies and skeletons(Or just 132 zombies and skeletons), who all receive this buff for the entire day. That's taking every single spell of 3 and above, but why would you need anything more when you have a literal small army of undead, any of which could easily kill several smallfolk and/or a few soldiers on their own with their extra health and damage.
Overall, it's probably a bit much, but not too much.
Spoiler: Plague BladeThis entire subclass is basically worthless.
It picks up, at most, 50 additional poison against a few different targets, and that's assuming they just can't make a con saving throw. Of course, that assumed that you- With no other martial inclinations or bonuses- can actually hit them. And of course, they actually take poison damage, which about 1/3 or so monsters don't.
The aura might actually be less useful though. It's 2d4 poison damage, and a guarantee that no allies will ever be near you, since you can't control who takes the damage.
Then the resistance to disease is worthless. I genuinely can't think of another time in which the effect of a subclass was totally dwarfed by an effect from the core class mere levels later. Not only that, but the immunity to nonmagical disease is the ribbon to end all ribbons. Yes, I know, the PC could contract something. But a 2nd level spell is all it takes to fix, unless it's magical, in which case you're not immune anyway. Your disgusting boil-popping ability is also pretty ****ty; They get the same punishment as something you hit, but you have to hit something beforehand, and they need to fail the save, then the NEW creatures need to fail the save, AND be very close to the first creature, who would have to keep failing saving throws for this to work. And then you can only do it once per fight, if that.
It's capstone should make up for it though, right? Well, no. 12d10 is a lot of damage, but again; Poison sucks. A second level spell gives advantage against your poison, and even on a failure, they'll suffer 6d10 poison damage. The effect itself also isn't very useful in a fight. Yeah, you really effed up that dragon; He'll maybe die in a few months. In addition, the Warlock gets something similar at 14th level with fiend pact. 10d10 psychic damage, something only 11 creatures even resist, and no saving throw attached; It just happens. They get a better ability 4 levels earlier, with the only caveat being "You can't use it against a fiend."
Overall, this subclass is a joke. It's an okay concept, but it's utterly worthless, and with the Int/Con/Wis focus of the core class, this is adding either Str or Dex, and you're reaching some MAD territory.
Spoiler: Soul CasterBasically, you get the ChainPact!Warlock's familliar, only it's a shadow. I mean, sure, but there's no external way to improve it(Such as invocations), and it doesn't get at all better over time. So... Sure, this is fine. Not good, but also not bad.
I think this might be the one class feature I don't think needs some changing around. It isn't incredibly powerful, it's a good concept, and it has clear limits. It's almost a more versatile Melf's Minute Meteors, but limited by your power to invoke death. I even have a little idea for it; You can sacrifice friendly undead to get more of the shards. A small thing, but I think kinda cool.
The capstone ability is essentially worthless. You give up a familliar to get a 6 Strength, 14 Dex, 13 Con, suffer a sunlight weakness, a 2d6+2 melee attack, and sometimes gaining expertise in stealth. Familliars aren't particularly useful in a fight to begin with, but this ability can effectively LOWER your abilities in combat, especially if you're exposed to- Gods forbid- light. Not to mention the fact that this is even more worthless once becoming a lich; You get a worse touch attack, and a weakness. Sure hope that bonus to stealth and squeezing is worth it.
Overall Opinion/TL;DR
It's too powerful as a whole, and a lot of abilities are either jokes or otherwise worthless. It's gonna take quite a bit of overhauling to make viable.
Points for having sporadic coolness, though, and for being a good concept.
Starting off thank you for being honest and giving examples to look at for comparison of power level.
The bone thing is meant more as a flavor change of the druid restriction.
Among the Dead is pulled straight from the Undying Way Warlock in the Sword Coast Guide, and they get it at 1st level
Aura Terror is an ability that I have been trying to figure out how to work, my thought is to have it be usable once per short rest or something like that, since I don't really want to move it from the level it is so as to line up better with full caster progression
I will definitely consider the CHA save to resurrect
Would it work better to have it be just one skeleton normal until 4th level for undead swarm
As for the capstone its hard to tell exactly the balance until play testing so I get what you are saying, but until I get to see it in action I'm not sure whether to mess with it or what needs to be messed with
Would it be too powerful if I made the damage necrotic for the class abilities
For Diseased blade I have an idea for what to do, I can have them take the damage to release blood which they magically form into a blade which they use their spell casting ability modifier for attack and damage rolls, then have it be that they spend a spell slot to infect a creature they hit where the creature takes their int mod times the level of the spell each turn for the next minute no save
For the aura I have no problem allowing them to only affect allies
Then make the boil simply spread the affect no save, I could also change it from being boils to simply spears of blood that shoot out, I went with boils because of flavor and thought of the affect of plagues like the Black Plague
I realize the immunity to disease isn't that strong but it makes too much since flavor wise not to give them it
For the Capstone should I just get rid of the save and just have it work
Would just giving them the beneficial abilities be too strong for the capstone
Okay, forgive me ahead of time for my formatting, I am new to this forum and am unfamiliar with how to break up the quotes like you did so just bare with me here.
I hope my commentary helps and that I have not offended you in any way. I really like the idea of this class and simply wish to see it turn out to be something great. No hard feelings and I wish you the best of luck.
No hard feelings its all good, I appreciate your advice and help, I get what you mean about the spell list, with that in mind I'm going to adjust the spell list around so that there isn't as much redundancy.
Spoiler: Text seperation for quotingFor splitting things up, the way you do it is you copy the quote command that you get at the top of the page when you click reply with quote and paste it at the front of the above the text and the [/quote] command that is at the end of the quoted text at the end
I have to say Llama, I think you adressed most of my issues with the class and you seem like you are almost ready to play-test (if you are not there yet). I only have a couple of other things that seem odd to me.
1) the among the dead base class features states that “You also gain advantage on saving throws against fear affects caused by undead“. What exactly are fear effects? To me, this seems to say that you have advantage on saving throws against being frightened by undead but I am not sure. Could you specify?
2) why exactly does the plague blade gain proficiency in martial weapons and a small selection of simple weapons, but not all simple weapons? It seems weird that this would be the only class I have ever seen that gains proficiency in martial weapons but not in simple weapons. It does not matter too much, but just pointing that out
3) what actions can the shadow familiar take? Can it take all the actions of a player or is it restricted in someway? It would help to specify because to me it seems like it can take any action it wishes.
4) I still think aura of fear is overpowered, but I do not think I will ever stop complaining about aura of fear so do not put too much emphasis on that.
5) Be careful with the undead lord’s undead swarm and enhance undead features. Those bonuses seem way too high. Perhaps they will in practice turn out to be balanced but I would watch out for those features while play testing.
I mean, I guess, but it doesn't work as well here. Mostly because a druid trying to be a martial has their wild shape, while a DN trying to be a martial(Even with their "martial" subclass) doesn't have anything like that. I'll revisit this in a moment, don't respond to this part.
What were you thinking, Wizards?Quote:
Among the Dead is pulled straight from the Undying Way Warlock in the Sword Coast Guide, and they get it at 1st level
A thought I have; At 6th level, it gives everything around you disadvantage against fear, but then turns into a better aura at 6, based on your subclass. Dunno specifics, and luckily, it's not my job.Quote:
Aura Terror is an ability that I have been trying to figure out how to work, my thought is to have it be usable once per short rest or something like that, since I don't really want to move it from the level it is so as to line up better with full caster progression
Probably.Quote:
Would it work better to have it be just one skeleton normal until 4th level for undead swarm
On the contrary, it still wouldn't be that great. It's still repeated saving throws which would normally be as little as 15-ish damage, 2d4 aura that hurts your allies, etc.Quote:
Would it be too powerful if I made the damage necrotic for the class abilities
That's a bit much. That's as much as 45 damage per turn for 10 rounds, 450 damage, enough to kill dragons.Quote:
For Diseased blade I have an idea for what to do, I can have them take the damage to release blood which they magically form into a blade which they use their spell casting ability modifier for attack and damage rolls, then have it be that they spend a spell slot to infect a creature they hit where the creature takes their int mod times the level of the spell each turn for the next minute no save
It shouldn't be a huge amount of damage, but more than 20(With luck on your side.) You only get the one attack each turn, so it should be a bit of damage, just not a ton.
Flavour's fine. And the no save thing, maybe... That's 50 damage to upto 8 or so people.Quote:
Then make the boil simply spread the affect no save, I could also change it from being boils to simply spears of blood that shoot out, I went with boils because of flavor and thought of the affect of plagues like the Black Plague
I realize the immunity to disease isn't that strong but it makes too much since flavor wise not to give them it
I mean, it won't be too much better in the moment. A slightly better version of the Fiendpact!Warlock's ability, at best. On a long-term, though, it would be the best market for flyby murder. Cast Haste on yourself, have an ally cast Fly, fly by a dragon, infect it, then wait a week or three. Insta-quest finish.Quote:
For the Capstone should I just get rid of the save and just have it work
If there were any beneficial abilities, maybe.Quote:
Would just giving them the beneficial abilities be too strong for the capstone
And there's the new subclass;
The first ability; Hex once/short rest, and I dunno if it's a typo or what, but it doesn't improve. So, maybe no.
Decripify faces the same problems i've said about the Plagueblade. Con saves or it's worthless. Half-damage with strength weapons also isn't huge, maybe 1/3rd of damage is halved. And it's only things within 15 feet of your hexed victim.
Leech. Same problem as Decripify, only it does very minimal damage. On an absolute scale, maybe you heal 40 damage with enough targets.
Fraility; It's a burst, not something that lasts 1 minute. But it lasts a minute for some reason. It could kill a small horde, but so could a fireball or two. So, also not great. Especially as a capstone.
All in all- It sucks. It's abilities are overall weak and more or less useless in a lot of cases. It also centers around Hex, a 1st level spell that you can cast once. It has nothing to do with Bestow Curse, even as the Cursebringer, and has no unique curses.
Requiliac and Demonslayer elf I will be responding properly to you later today, sorry about the delay, been busy with school work haven't had much time
It looks cool, I always hate that homebrewery never displays properly on fire fox but w/e.
Most things seem to be replicating a wizard full caster progression.
I am always wary of things that by the rules should make you an npc such as Lichdom or being a Vampire but okay.
Okay with that said it seems okay for the most part, I’m looking at it more for if things make literal sense than for balance since I don’t want to come across as offending your work:
“Its hit points are equal to 2*proficiency modifier d8 + your dread necromancer level”
So like that part, I am not sure what it is saying exactly. I do not know where to begin really.
There are also a few typographical errors and punctuation issues that pop up randomly all over the module.
Anyway best of luck.
Fear effects are exactly what you think they are, and that wording is how it is stated in the official text that ability comes from.
Because I hadn't noticed and will fix that
It is supposed to be all like the Raven Queen Warlocks Familiar
I will take a look at it as I continue to fine tune
I will be keep my eye open for that
Not sure fully, but I plan to keep the ability as their is precedence for getting it that early, and it fits too well into the class not to give them, if I find a better level too place it I will move it but for now it stays.
Interesting I will definitely look into that
I will fix that issue then
I came up with a possible solution that allows the use of poison damage since I really like the poison for flavor, having the class ignore resistance to poison and treat immunity as resistance, I can also make the aura just be enemies that is fairly easy to explain via controlling the spores with necrotic magic
Would simply removing the saving throw on the extra damage and leaving it as is be too strong.
This ties back to previous response as these abilities run off the same basic priniciple
I'll try and come up with some different options for the capstone when I have time, I just really like the idea of a really powerful disease for the plague blade as their capstone, that and for the most part you can't just fly by really powerful creatures as they have legendary saves and would auto pass on the con check
There are beneficial abilities to the stats of the shadow, I will change it to just give those when I have time so that you can see what that looks like
I was being very cautious on how to approach this archetype and already have ideas on how to make it better, it is going to be retooled, this was just a test run and getting ideas out and figuring out how to work them
Wow WotC, really? I still think you should specify what “fear effects” are, but seeing as how it is already used in official texts that is probably unnecessary, but nonetheless helpful
Ahh, yes that make sense, I had not realized that until now. The raven queen warlock does not specify what actions the raven can take either. I still think it would be helpful to directly say that the shadow can take any action (which I am assuming is what you meant) though, even if the raven queen does not have that. Once again, it is most likely unnecessary but still helpful.
You appear to have almost everything ready for play testing. It seems rather clear and well written to me now (aside from those two features). A couple of things look really strong but nothing looks gamebreaking. Play-testing though in my (although limited) experience has always came up with surprising results so what looks overpowered could easily be balanced and vice versa. I have little else to criticize about the dread necromancer in its current form. It is not quite the way I would create it, but that does not necessarily mean it is unbalanced. I will be watching the changes made to the dread necromancer as it progresses and will comment again if I dislike any of the changes, but for now I have little else to say. Good luck!
As I have gotten a majority of the class locked in accurately, I am going to be working on the Curse Master Archetype separately from the rest of the class and then transfer the finished version over, the Curse Master work can be found here http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/H1m4ZDnkkf
At the moment there are no changes officially in the archetype, but I do have some plans, the first is to decripify and leech into the same ability and give it at 2nd which allows you to apply leach or decripify onto a target of your hex or bestow curse target. May move frailty into this as well, but set the health level that can cause death to be equal to your charisma modifier times your necromancer level, frailty will be granted at a higher level then the others, or not given as part of the 2nd level ability
At 10th level you can cast hex or bestow curse on multiple targets in a region, my thought is a 30 foot radius, this will probably only be once a long rest initially, maybe twice, depends on power
18th level I am going to completely change, not sure what to yet, any suggestions for new curses or a good capstone are appreciated as this area is not my expertise and I am not sure exactly where to look for inspiration
Why don’t you take a look at all the other classes capstone for inspiration? They all either have a passive ability which provides a massive power boost (this can be seen in the barbarian, fighter and ranger), Something that improves the quality of another key feature (this can be seen in the bard, Druid and sorcerer) Or give you an extremely powerful ability that takes a some time to recharge (this can be seen in the cleric, paladin and to a lesser extent rogue and wizard). The warlock is kind of unique in this regard. I think the most satisfying (although probably not the most efficient) capstones are the ones that allow you to unleash a massive amount of power but take a long time to recharge. The paladin’s level 20 features are awesomely dramatic and highly entertaining to see in play. I would reccomned doing something similar with the hex master. The first thing that comes to mind would be suitable for this is a powerful hex that allows you to force someone to fight for you. Possibly with some physical alteration being inflicted upon the person. Depending on the image you have of a necromancer they can turn the opponent into a werewolf, possess them automatically and use bonus actions to control them from a distance, or even temporarily drive them insane for the duration (if you wanted to take a lovecraftian approach). But that is just my suggestion, I am sure you could probably find somethig just as good.
I have an idea for the 18th level feature, not quite sure on the name, working title is Visions of Terror. The idea is based around something out of star wars actually, where a character by the name of Darth Zannah would drive people to insanity, and in some cases death by forcing them to see horrific images from their past, and while in this state they were unaware of what was going on around them. So my thought is that the target makes a wisdom saving throw to resist the initial casting if they fail they take 4d6 psychic damage each turn for the next minute. At the start of each of their turns they can repeat the save, ending the affect on a success. I haven't decided if I want the creature to be stunned or if they should make a melee attack against a random creature within reach as they desperately try to fight off the horrors they see, even if I go with the melee attack option attacks against the affected creature will still have advantage, what do you guys think?
Other option for flavor if I go with the attacking option is instead to have it be that they become paranoid and believe that their allies are imposters and thus attack them.
If you are undecided whether the target should be stunned or delusional (making attacks against random targets), why don’t you have a chance of either happening, like confusion does? When someone fails it they can roll a die and if they roll above a certain number they become “delirious” and if they roll below a certain number they become stunned. Perhaps roll a D6 and 5 or above results in the target becoming delirious while 4 or below means they are stunned. 4D6 damage every turn seems like a lot, but by the time your are level 18 your enemies gain a surprisingly high damage threshold anyway so it probably will not be too much of an issue.
While writing this up I think it is a good idea to look at spells which have similar effects to determine how to word it properly. Several high level illusions spells are good examples to look at. A feature such as this could easily become overpowered, but it is also really easy to limit it (EG: creatures with immunity to being frightened are not effected by it).
It is actually a rather strange coincidence that you are planning on making such a feature though, because in a homebrew that I am creating, the class does an almost identical effect. A group of enemies makes a wisdom saving throw and if they fail they become delirious and start attacking the closest opponents. If you are interested it is part of The Aberration: fighter subclass PEACH thread in my signature, but in case you are not I will copy the feature below. So far I have had three different people judge the class and so far the only complaint that they have had with feature is that the DC was a set number instead of calculated like a spellcasting save DC. I guess that means it was considered acceptable by them then.
Spoiler: Psychotic howl (level 18)Extended exposure to otherworldly forces has given you the ability to temporarily evoke fell powers that induce insanity and madness upon your foes. You can use your action to envelop yourself in sinister, magical energy that gives you a horrid illusionary appearance and allows you to emit a hideous shriek that tears at the mental stability of your foes. Every hostile creature that can hear you must make a wisdom saving throw with a DC that equals 14+ your inteligence or charisma modifier (your choice). Friendly or neutral creatures hear the screech but do not suffer the same psychological effect, nor do they see your illusionary appearance. Aberrations and creatures which have immunity to being deafened or frightened are not effected by this feature. On a failed save an enemy takes 2D6 psychic damage and enters a mad delirium upon hearing the horrid call of unfathomable forces completely beyond their comprehension. On a successful save, a target takes half damage but takes none of the other effects of this feature.
A delirious creature is wracked with terrible illusions which cause it to panic and recklessly lash out at the new threats which are all around it. The target then uses its following action(s) to make a weapon or spell attack against the closest creature to it, choosing the most threatening target or picking randomly if there are several close by. In this panic they are willing to rashly expend valuable resources in an attempt to defend themselves. Creatures inflicted with this insanity cannot take bonus actions or reactions.
At the end of each of its turns, an affected target can make a Wisdom saving throw. If it succeeds, this effect ends for that target. If it fails, then the creature continues to suffer from madness but does not take any extra damage.
Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.
That is interesting, I really like the idea of the chance at either, based on how the illusions affect the target, my though is that it is a fear/mind effecting ability, so creatures with immunity to those are immune to the ability, I will definitely give your archetype a look
Changed Enhance undead to only affect undead created through the use of undead swarm
Changed Aura of Terror to give disadvantage on fear effects, giving aura boost at 6th based on archetype
I will adding to this as I go, this is more to get idea out for possibilities for different aura's / upgrades to grant at 6th level
Undead Lord: Undead created through the use of undead swarm within your aura of terror add your spell casting modifier to their saving throws
or
Undead created through the use of undead swarm within your aura of terror add your spell casting modifier to their AC
Plague Blade: Those with in your aura of terror are opened up to the infectious nature of your powers, they become vulnerable to poison damage and have disadvantage on saves against being poisoned, if the creature has resistance to poison damage the creature instead takes normal damage from poison damage, if the creature is immune to poison damage they instead have resistance. If the creature is normally immune to being poisoned they lose that immunity while in the aura, and make the save as normal.
Soul Caster: You can use the shadow of those inside of your aura to cast touch spells on them
not sure fully on this one
Curse Master: You are able to send bursts of dark energy out from yourself disrupting the concentration of those affected. You can cause a creature within your aura of terror to make a concentration check against your spell save DC on a failure their concentration is broken.
To be completely honest, aura of terror is powerful enough as is and does not need any upgrading. While these are definitely interesting benefits in concept, adding more power to an already volatile feature is not the best of ideas. This class is already rather powerful as is and I think it is entirely unnecessary to add these features in unless it proved to be too weak after play-testing.
But for the sake of the arguement, Let’s pretend that I do think those aura effects should be added in. I would say that most of these aura effects fine except for the plague blades. The undead lord’s is pretty solid, the soul caster’s one is interesting, the curse master’s is pretty situational but not too overpowered. The plague blade’s is way too broken though. Imposing disadvantage on all saving throws against poison damage and making them vulnerable too it. This Means that diseased blade does twice as much damage and has a much higher chance of succeeding. That is very overpowered and needs a lot of toning down, lest the plague blade become much too powerful.
I agree that these are unnecessary if I had left Aura of terror in its original state, but I toned it down to only give disadvantage against fear.
As for the plague blade would removing the vulnerability and disadvantage portion be too good, since it would simply allow them to use poison effectively against creatures that have resistance to it and actual damage those that are immune
Oh yeah, i forgot about that. I have to admit that the writing of it is kind of strange since not many spells produce the frightened effect, but it has advantages in a couple of niche scenarios. For a base class ability I would not put in such a specific ability, but other official classes have that kind of thing anyway (such as the rogue’s blindsense, druid’s nature’s ward) so it is not unbalanced, just strange.
I was mainly concerned about the poison vulnerability and disadvantage on save parts, not quite the bypass damage resistance and condition and damage immunity. I do not see anything wrong with that part of it, aside form it being kind of immersion breaking in a couple of strange cases (Wait, did you just poison a golem made of pure rock? How exactly do you poison a incorporeal ghost? The ooze can be affected by poison, how, because I am pretty sure it Does not have organs to contaminate in the first place?). But I would certainly be fine with that feature. It seems around the same level as the other auras, especially if you are playing a hardcover adventure.
As I feel that the Curse Master can now stand its ground with the other archetypes I have transferred it into the original document and will be making changes from there
Idea for Capstone of Plague Blade, called Avatar of Disease
For the next minute your body becomes gaunt and sickly as you channel the full power of the diseases held within. For the next minute you gain the following benefits:
- You are immune to poison damage and being poisoned
- As a bonus action you can form a blade of necrotic energy that is infused with your blood. This blade functions the same as Flame Blade execpt it deals 2D8 Poison Damage and on a sucessful hit the target must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, it is also poisoned until the end of your next turn.
- When you are hit by a melee attack there is a 10 percent chance that the creature that hit you is affected by a random disease as if contagion had been cast on them, a creature can only be affected in this way by one disease
This ability can be used once per long rest
Made changes to shadow form so that you only gain the beneficial aspects of shadow stats
*Bump* Hadn't gotten response about the changes that I made, or the idea for the plague blade capstone, so if there are issues please let me know, otherwise I am going to implement the changes and the new capstone