FormerlyHemlock
Hero
I'm good on what you said in Points 1 and 2, however.
Is not a Staff of the Magi like a Legendary (and Optional) Item? You're incorporating a setback from a Legendary Item into what feels like a feature that should be used rather frequently when encountering Spellcasters.
Also, yes, you won't eat Magic when you're at your Sorcery Point Cap, but what about if you don't know what the spell being cast is, you just instinctively (see what I did there?) "I eat it!", and that puts you only 1 or 2 points over your Max? And then fail an Int Save that you are, again, not that good at?
I get the idea of punishing the idea of just trying to stay at your SP cap without relying on the Made of Magic feature, which should be used a lot more often, it seems. But Feeblemind basically ends your character. 30 days of a 1 Charisma, your primary stat, if you fail the Save? 30 days or a 5th Level spell from a Divine Caster if one happens to be in the party, which is not a guarantee? ----, a Cleric makes this setback trivial, but the absence of one makes this devastating. All because you accidentally absorbed a Chain Lightning when you thought it was Lightning Bolt?
Again, not only does this give you back SP, but it's defensive, it stops you from taking XdX damage or a debilitating effect like Blind. I'd honestly rather a punishment, a lesser punishment, but making this like a once per Short / Long Rest kinda deal rather than "You can do this forever but you basically write yourself out of the game if you misjudge". I wouldn't have such an issue with this if no other class (to my knowledge) actively hurt you like this.
[thinks, does some math]
It turns out that Feeblemind, even from a lowish spell DC, is much harder for a sorcerer to overcome than even I was expecting. With Int 12 and the Lucky feat, a sorcerer would have a 51% chance of passing the initial save against DC 16 (Chain Lightning) Feeblemind, which I'm fine with--but then he'd have -5 to his Int saves after that and be totally unable to ever recover. That's harsher than I intended.
I do want serious and relatively long-term consequences, something that will take you out of the current adventure, but not something that makes it impossible to ever recover. I want your brains scrambled for weeks, not decades. Make it a DC (5 + spell level) save instead (now you have an 80% chance of making the initial save, counting Lucky, and a 51% chance per re-save to recover), and we'll let you re-save every week.
New text: "If this would take you above your sorcery point maximum, lose the extra points and suffer the effects of a Feeblemind spell, DC 5 + (level of the absorbed spell), except that you may repeat the saving throw to end the effect every 7 days instead of every 30." Not the most elegant wording I'm afraid, but gives what I'm looking for.
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