Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 PhyrexianKitsune Aug 14, 2015 16:19:51	As the title says. Sorcs kinda got shafted in the player's handbook in a big way, but unearthed arcana has done quite a bit to try to make them more competitive. However, even things like the favored soul and storm sorcerer leave some things to be desired, so I've decided to give some homebrew love to sorcs to make them a more viable and fun to play class. This will be an ongoing project of mine, a sort of "sorcerer level-up compendium" that will both introduce new metamagic and origin options while also providing re-vamped versions of exsisting origins to make them on-par with other classes in terms of power. However, before I get to that, I've been working on two new sorc origins, each mapped roughly to the "Warmage" and "Dread Necromancer" classes from 3.5e without being a conversion of them like the favored soul. So far, I've gone for flavor with them, but I feel they may be too strong/need help balancing them. As a result, I'm posting them up to get general advice on what should be fixed/changed before I start to assemble the nice looking sorc-focused pdf I have planned. I'll also be using this thread to help balance my wilde magic and dragonic bloodline fixes when I get to them. Anyway, without further hesitation...my new sorc support!   Sorcererous Origin: Necrotic Taint   You are tainted by dark, necromantic magic. While Necromancy school wizards and death domain clerics may command negative energy, they don't have nearly the intimate connection with it that you do. Called a "Dread Necromancer" by some, negative energy flows through your blood, corrupts your soul and empoweres you with the ability to manipulate the forces of death, undeath, and even the soul itself. This taint could have come from many places. Perhaps an ancestor of yours was a powerful necromancer or undead creature, such as a lich or vampire, and their dark influence has forever tainted your family's bloodline. Or maybe your magics are a curse, a blight placed uppon you by angry gods for crimes against them or by dark forces wishing to turn you towards the path of evil. This necrotic taint could also be something you sought out personally, performing a dark ritual on yourself to imbune your body and soul with negative energy in a desperate grasp for power. However you came by your powers, your magics are undouptly dark, and intimatly tied to the grave. Tainted Arcana Your blood is tainted with a dark necrotic influence and as a result, you learn to tap into fell magics that curse enemies and manipulate the forces of life, death and undeath. At 1st level and whenever you gain a new spell level, you can choose one necromancy spell from any spell list of a level you can cast and add it to your spells known as a bonus spell. These spells do not count against your total spells known as-per the sorcere spell table. Fell Sacrifice  As a user of necromantic magics you learn a dark tallent: the ability to transmute your own life essence into raw magical power. Starting at 1st level, you can use an action to sacrifice a number of Hit Dice and regain one spell slot who's level is equal to the total HD sacrificed. (So by sacrificing 5 HD, the sorcerer could regain 1 5th level spell slot.   Corpsecrafter Starting at 6th level, when you cast a spell that creates undead creatures(Such as Animate Dead or Create Undead.) you may spend 2 sorcerery points. If you do, all undead creatures created with that spell gain the following bonuses: * The Creature's hit point maximum is increased by an amount equal to your Sorcerer level * The Creature adds your profiency bonus to it's weapon damage rolls.   Undead Mastery  You become a true master of undeath, able to enhance your undead and mantain control of undead you create with greater ease then other spellcasters. Starting at 14th level, each day, you may upkeep a number of undead creation spells that would normally require a recasting to upkeep(such as Animate Dead or Create Undead) who's total spell levels equal half your sorcerer level + your charisma modifier without having to re-cast those spells. (So a Necrotic Sorcerer of 14th level with 16 charisma could upkeep an Animate Dead spell cast at level 3 and a Create Undead spell cast at level 7 this way.)    General of Undeath  You become a true lord of undeath, able to command even the strongest of undead. Starting at 18th level, when you use the gate spell or a similar spell or effect to call an undead creature, such as a demilich, lich, death knight, dracolich, etc., you can force it to make a charisma save against your sorcerer spell save DC to fall under your control. After 24 hours, you lose control of it and it returns to the place it was called from even if it failed it's save. When you use this ability to force a save, you can spend 18 sorcery points have the creature called automatically fall under your control without being offered a save instead. You may choose to sacrifice undead under your control in place of expending sorcerery points for the purpose of using this ability, one undead being equivalent to one sorcerery point per 1/3 CR (minimum of 1 point).   Sorcererous Origin: Warmage  Unlike the studied arcane soldiers known as eldritch knights, you are a special brand of magic soldier, born and bred for battle. Whenther born naturally with magic powers or gaining them through a arcane ritual sponsered by your kingdom, you possess innate arcane energies that you have learned to harness through martial, millitary training. While you lack the finess of other spellcasters, your millitary style of spellcasting has made you a potent combatant who can field both a devisating magical offense and also blend spellcasting and martial swordplay into a harmonious whole. Known as a warmage, you are the elite among battlemages, and a fearsome force to behold.   Spell Combat   Your unique magical training had taught you how to blend spelllcraft and swordplay into a harmonious whole. When you use your action to make a melee weapon attack, you can use your bonus action to cast a sorcerer cantrip. Student of Warfare As a student of magic and warfare, you  learn not only spelllcraft, but basic martial combat., You have profiency with light armor, medium armor, shields and one martial weapon of your choice. In addition, you may use any martial melee weapon as an arcane focus and can fulfill the somatic component costs of your sorcerer spells even while both your hands are holding a weapon(s) and/or a shield.   Warmage's Edge As you hone your skill you eventually learn how to infuse your attacks and damaging spells with raw arcane power. Starting at 6th level, when you make a melee weapon attack or cast a non-cantrip spell that would deal damage, you may expend 1 sorcerer spell slot. If you do, you add 1d8 force damage per-level of the slot expended to the damage roll of that attack or spell. Also, melee weapon attacks you make deal additional force damage equal to your charisma modifier.   Battle Ward As you continue to grow in power you eventually learn how to shape magical energies into potent defensive wards. Starting at 14th level, you attune yourself to an elemental affinity of your choice between: Acid, Cold, Fire, Necrotic, Radiant, Poison or Lightining. You gain resustance to damage of that type. In addition, you also attune yourself to one physical damage type, chosen from  Bludegoning, Piercing or Slashing. You also gain resistence to this damage type. This effect lasts until you take a short or long rest, at which point you can choose a new elemental damage type and physical damage type to gain resistence to.    Master of Warfare At the height of your power you become a true master of arcane warfare. Your damage dice for warmage's edge increases from 1d8 per-slot level to 2d8 per slot level. In additon when you make one melee weapon attack you can cast a sorcerer spell as a bonus action.     New Metamagic Options:   Energy Substitution Whenever you cast a spell that deals acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder, psychic, radiant or necrotic damage, you may spend 1 sorcerery point to make it deal damage of a different type chosen from among those types. In addition, that spell ignores resistance to damage of that type.    Anyway, ideas/thoughts on these?
#2 daspian Aug 14, 2015 19:28:41	Tainted Arcana   Your blood is tainted with a dark necrotic influence and as a result, you learn to tap into fell magics that curse enemies and manipulate the forces of life, death and undeath. You add all Necromancy spells from all spell lists to your sorcerer class spell list. You can select these spells as well as spells normally on the sorcerer spell list as spells known whenever you would select sorcerer spells known, including at first level. In addition, at 1st level and whenever you gain acssess to a new spell level, you can select one necromancy spell from your sorcerer class spell list(Including spells added to that list with this ability)of any spell level you are able to cast and add it to your spells known as a bonus spell. These bonus spells known do not count against your spells known limit as indicated on the sorcerer spells known table.   (( so pretty much you have access to ALL spells, and then you have DOUBLE THE SIZE of your spells known list... i'd change that now =P, that's going against the whole theme of a sorcerer (lesser known spells, but more "ka-pow" so to speak))   i'd change it to the following: the tainted influence of the shadowfell has granted you insight into strange new magicks, each level when you would pick a new sorcerer spell, you can instead pick a necromancy spell from any class spell list even if it is not a part of your sorcerer spell list. Fell Sacrifice   As a user of necromantic magics you learn a dark tallent: the ability to transmute your own life essence into raw magical power. Starting at 1st level, you can use an action to regain a spell slot by taking damage equal to 1d4+ the level of the slot being regained. This ability can be used a number of times per-day equal to your charisma modifier. The damage you take to re-gain slots with this ability cannot be prevented in any way and ignores all forms of resistence. You regain all spent uses of Fell Sacrifice upon completing a long rest. You may only use a number of your total Fell Sacrifice uses per-day equal to or less then your sorcerer level. (So while a level one Necrotic Sorcerer with 16 charisma would have 3 uses of Fell Sacrifice per-day, she could only expend one before taking a long rest.)   ok so now you can pretty much just sacrifice hit points, and keep gaining spell slots, have a healer just heal you up, vamp touch or just short-rest, and bam more spell-slots not to mention i understand the cap you put on them with only being able to use it x/per day equal to or less than their sorc level.. but then it seems redundant to being able to use it a x/day equal to their cha mod... which is it? i understand the cap you did was to restrain it, but it just makes it slightly redundant and confusing... i'd scratch this idea, instead how about having   you can sacrifice a number of Hit Dice to gain a spell slot equal to the amount of Hit Dice you sacrifice, (example: 5 HD > one 5th level spell slot) in this manner you're losing something that is much more valuable and something that will hurt you in the long-term, so while you can get that one big spell slot back... you're now screwed for your short-rest until you are able to recup on a long-rest and get the feature, and your HD back.   Necrotic Soul   As you grow in power you become so infused with negative energy that you learn to manipulate it in ways other spellcasters cannot. Starting at 6th level, all necrotic damage dealt by your spells and undead minions under your control ignore necrotic resistance. In addition, as long as you have at least 2 unspent sorcerery points all spells you cast that deal necrotic damage deal additionals necrotic damage equal to your charisma modifier.   wait... are you trying to aim for a "blaster" type origin or a minion-master focus one, i'd say wizards got that shtick, and a "necromantic" sorc should be more themed around raw-damage of death rather than controlling a massive army...comes back to whole differences between the two classes.   i'd change it to the following: Starting at 6th level, when you cast a spell or cantrip dealing necrotic damage you ignore necrotic resistance, in addition, your spells and cantrips that deal necrotic damage deal additional necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier.   Undead Mastery   You become a true master of undeath, able to enhance your undead and mantain control of undead you create with greater ease then other spellcasters. Starting at 14th level, each day, you may upkeep a number of undead creation spells that would normally require a recasting to upkeep(such as Animate Dead or Create Undead) who's total spell levels equal half your sorcerer level + your charisma modifier without having to re-cast those spells. (So a Necrotic Sorcerer of 14th level with 16 charisma could upkeep an Animate Dead spell cast at level 3 and a Create Undead spell cast at level 7 this way.) In addition, as long as you have at least 2 unspent sorcerery points, all undead creatures under your control within 30 feet of you deal bonus necrotic damage equal to your charisma modifier on all attacks they make.   mmm again, if you're shooting for a "minion-master" themed necromancer controlling hordes of zombies... i'd should for the wizard, the sorc thematically should be about just innately being able to cast spells and "blasting" raw damage-dealing spells at hordes of monsters, thematically the distinction between them has always been "raw power/ less fuel big boom glass cannon" vs. "more flexibility/versatility/utility and micro-management of spells, with a wide-range of choices... I.E: more fuel, but less power.   OP'ness of this feature aside, why not make it something revolving around utility or defense, most features of 14th level for the sorc revolve around utility or defense at this level.   General of Undeath   You become a true lord of undeath, able to command even the strongest of undead. Starting at 18th level, when you use the gate spell or a similar spell or effect to call an undead creature, such as a demilich, lich, death knight, dracolich, etc., you can force it to make a charisma save against your sorcerer spell save DC to fall under your control. After 24 hours, you lose control of it and it returns to the place it was called from even if it failed it's save. When you use this ability to force a save, you can spend 18 sorcery points have the creature called automatically fall under your control without being offered a save instead. You may choose to sacrifice undead under your control in place of expending sorcerery points for the purpose of using this ability, one undead being equivalent to one sorcerery point per 1/3 CR (minimum of 1 point).   so it's a suped- up version of the Wizard's School of necromancy feature... but yours is better? yet again i'd leave the minion-mastering to the wizard and make your necromancer-sorc a "blast-themed" one, revolving around slinging curses, weaving unstable energies of necrotic orign and melting faces...literally.   Sorcererous Origin: Warmage Training   You have trained an at arcane war college and learned how to harness raw magical energies in a direct, powerful manner suited for the battlefield. One part soldier, one part mage, you combind melee combat with powerful offensive casting to serve as a mystic soldier and quite possibly an officer in your millitary unit. While eldritch knights augment their martial power with a small bit of magical training, you instead use your in-depth magical training to augment your combat ability, both martial and mystic. Whether you be an artillery unit in your nation's army, a charismatic officer who inspires with powerful displays of both martial and magical might or a mercenary blade for hire with warmage training, you are the more magic-focused cousin to the predominently martial eldritch knight and your abilites make you a fearsome sight to behold.   So the whole theme of a Sorc is that they are "UN-trained" casters, they are just innately born with the talent... training ar an arcane war college kinda defeats the purpose of an innately born spellcaster, not to mention it's really stepping on the Eldritch Knights toes..   Expanded Arsenal   As a warmage, you realize that battle sometimes requires more than just damage. Thus, you learn to diversify your spell repitoir to include spells beyond the scope of other sorcerers. At 1st level and each time you gain acssess to a new spell level, you may select one spell from the wizard spell list and add it to your spells known. This spell dose not count against your maximum spells known as-per the sorcerer spells known table.   This is ...meh, i think it's balanced but why needed? the point of a warmage would be all about damage, and they would be interested more in slinging out more battle-focused spells and abjuration spells rather than adding some new ritual or spell that isn't focused on their duty.   yet again i'd say this is really treading on the theme of a Eldritch Knight, if you're interested in this type of sorc origin i would say change this feature to something more thematically central to the essence of a "War Mage" and also make it distinctly separate from an Eldritch Knight. Battlemage   As a student of magic and warfare, you blend both swordplay and arcane casting into a harmonious whole. You have profiency with light armor and one martial weapon of your choice. You may use any martial weapon as an arcane focus for your spells. In addition, when you use the attack action to make a melee weapon attack you can use your bonus action to make a second melee weapon attack. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to your charisma modifier. You regain all spent uses when you finish a long rest.   mm nice feature, balanced, although i actually think it is almost underwhelming and slightly underpowered for a feature, only gaining an extra attack x/day, when a battle-mage wants to be interweaving sword and spell together, take a look at "War Magic" 7th level EK feature. Arcane Strike   As you hone your skill you eventually learn how to infuse your melee attacks and damaging spells with raw arcane power. Starting at 6th level, when you make a melee attack roll or cast a spell that would deal damage, you may expend 1 sorcerer spell slot. If you do, you add 1d8 force damage per-level of the slot expended to the damage roll of that attack or spell. Also, as long as you have at least two unspend sorcerery points, melee weapon attacks you make deal additional force damage equal to your charisma modifier.   so for clarification make sure to write that you mean spells of 1st-level or higher, i'd get rid of the whole "as long as you have 2 unspent sorc point" shtick, just make it so you permanently deal additional force damage equal to your charisma modifier for your melee attacks, otherwise it's slightly underwhelming, and it's also one less thing for your players to track... alot of the times in homebrew what gets confusing is adding so many new things for players to track that it just defeats the purpose of 5e... simplified playing.   Battleward   As you continue to grow in power you eventually master shape your magical energies into defensive wards. Starting at 14th level, as long as you have at least 4 unspent sorcerery points you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from all weapons, including magic weapons.   mm again the shtick... i'd scrap it... also resistance to bludgeoning,piercing, and slashing from all weapons including magic weapons is HUGE,  i wouldn't go for this... instead ask yourself again.. is the theme of the War-Mage supposed to be Damage Focused like an actual "WAR" mage, or defensive like an abjurist, in my mind a war mage is a battle-hardened wizard focused on massive evocation and abjuration spells, casting fly and slinging fireballs, lightning bolts, haste spells, etc.   however it can also thematically be that Spell-Blade type i guess, but again i say... what's the focus... defensive.. or offensive?   i'd change it to the following: you attune yourself to an elemental affinity of your choice between: Acid, Cold, Fire, Necrotic, Radiant, Poison, or Lightning, gaining resistance to said damage type as well as gaining resistance to one form of physical damage type Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing this effect lasts until you take a short rest, where you can choose a new elemental and physical affinity resistance during said rest... something like this, where you're playing on the themes of duality between spell and sword. "magic" and "might"   Avatar of War   At the height of your power, you can transform yourself into an avatar of martial might by sacrificing your magical power temporarily. Starting at 18th level, by spending 14 sorcerery points, you can become an Avatar of War. For a duration of 30 minutes, you increase your HD to 1d10 per sorcerer level, re-calculating your total HP as if your HD had always been a d10. In addition, you lose the extra attack feature from battlemage, but gain 2 extra attacks naturally. Finally, you choose one fighting style; for the duration of this ability, you have that fighting style.   mm this is interesting but also something that is just probably annoying for your players to recaculate... ask yourself... do you really want to recalculate your characters entire total HP after casting this, or want something that is the point of 5e "SIMPLE",   also the 14 sorc points, that's almost your entire pool, i'd do something that is a passive ability or something slightly less demanding, and also something that is simple and easy for your player to track and use at the same time feeling like a grand culminating feature for 18th level   always remember the following... KISS ;)         New Metamagic Options: Song of the Dead When you cast an enchantment spell(Such as Charm Person or Dominate Person) you can spend 2 sorcerery points to cast it as a spell that can target only undead, treating them as a creature of the type that spell could normally target for all purposes of the spell and bypassing all immunities and resistances(including status condition immunities) they may have.   So... you're spending 2 sorc points to be able to charm an undead, when most undead aren't actually immune to charm to begin with? at least i'm looking at the MM and zombies, skeletons and most stupid undead aren't... even vampires aren't immune to it... the only one i'm seeing is the lich... and spending 2 sorc points for an irresistable 100% guranteed affect charm on a lich... is pretty OP.     Corpsecrafter When you cast a spell that creates undead creatures(Such as Animate Dead or Create Undead.) you may spend 2 sorcerery points. If you do, all undead creatures created with that spell gain the following bonuses: * The Creature's hit point maximum is increased by an amount equal to your Sorcerer level * The Creature adds your profiency bonus to it's weapon damage rolls.   again most of the metamagic options are generic for a reason, and the distinction between a wizard and sorc is that one thematically is a blaster, the other a versatile studious caster (i.e usually the reason why they are the necromancers, minion-masters and elemental conjurers)... this aside... again i'd say for a metamagic feat it's largely to focused on one type of action in mind and seems more like a class feature...then a metamagic option. Destructive Retribution When you cast a spell that creates undead creatures(Such as Animate Dead or Create Undead) you may spend two sorcerery points. If you do, all undead creatures created with that spell gain the following special feature:   Destructive Retribution. When this creature is dies or is destroyed, it releases a burst of negative energy upon it's destruction, dealing 1d6 points of necrotic damage + an additional 1d6 per every 2 levels of the necromancy spell it was created with, to every creaure within a 10-foot spread centered on itself. Creatures caught in this burst are entitled to a constitution save against it's creator's sorcerer spell save DC to halve the damage taken.   again most of the metamagic options are generic for a reason, and being able to spend 2 sorc points and turn all your undead minions into walking time bombs that just explode is ridiculously OP.     Energy Substitution Whenever you cast a spell that deals acid, cold, fire, lightning or thunder damage, you may spend 1 sorcerery point to make it deal damage of a different type chosen from among those types.   this is actually really cool, however also extremely bland and underwhelming for a metamagic feat costing 1 sorc point... most want something else out of their precious 20 sorc points...then just switching the elemental type, which some DM's let you do passively if you ask "hey ...instead of a fireball... can i cast a ball of acid?!"   however for a purely rules-lawyer game this is still slightly underwhelming but nice, i'd just add something else to "oomph" it up like maybe when you spend 1 sorc point and change the elemental type.. it will bypass resistance for that one spell attack.