D&D 5E Interest In A More Esoteric 5e?

[Tales and Chronicles]

I think 5e could be made a little more mystical by:
1) removing all rituals from the normal spell list and give them their own system where you must expend components and cant cast them using spellslots.
2) make all spells with a casting time of more than an action a Ritual.
3) Make Rituals take a number of hours to cast equal to their level, so they are more a downtime thing to do.
4) give more esoteric names to spell instead of a name that simply describe the spell's effect.
ie: Fireball -> Offering of the Effreeti Court, Minor Illusion -> Mistborn Delusion

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I wonder if a class based on the Abhorsen would work.

The Binder is already close. Could push it further that way.

I also think maybe a Warden, that mixes idea of the Ranger, Druid, and defender-focused Barbarian, with rituals and mystical symbolism and such.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

all of these need basically a reboot almost from scratch, with less of a need to keep the feel of 5e than I originally had, and a simpler set of core abilities. But, conceptually you can see what I have in mind. Note that the captain is missing. I eventually moved that discussion into a private discussion, and then developed further on my own, so at this point it’s due for a whole new thread.

Thread 'The Binder, a WIP Homebrew Class for 5e'
D&D 5E - The Binder, a WIP Homebrew Class for 5e


Thread 'Swordmage 2.0 WIP'
D&D 5E - Swordmage 2.0 WIP



Thread 'Assassins, Alignment, and Archetypes'
D&D 5E - Assassins, Alignment, and Archetypes



Thread 'More Interesting Archers (+thread)'
D&D 5E - More Interesting Archers (+thread)

 

[doctorbadwolf]

As often happens to me, a burst of creativity has been swiftly followed up by work being very busy and draining.

I’ll try to update soon, though

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Spoke with my best friend tonight about this thread, and we had some ideas.

• Spells (but probably not low level spells) should have a risk of failure, but you can spend more power to make it work anyway.
  
  
• Higher level spells, and spells that punch above their level, should take multiple turns to cast. You start casting fireball with your action, and 3 rounds later you finish casting, pick your target space, and the spell goes off. You can be interrupted as if concentrating, but casting longer spells doesn’t interfere with Concentration.
• Less high level combat magic in general.
• More rituals, including converting some existing spells to rituals.
  
  

 

[doctorbadwolf]

• Spells (but probably not low level spells) should have a risk of failure, but you can spend more power to make it work anyway.

We might add a spellcraft skill, or simply make the Spellcasting check use your Spellcasting mod just like a spell attack. DC X+spell level. This would be big stuff.

• Higher level spells, and spells that punch above their level, should take multiple turns to cast. You start casting fireball with your action, and 3 rounds later you finish casting, pick your target space, and the spell goes off. You can be interrupted as if concentrating, but casting longer spells doesn’t interfere with Concentration.

Maybe all spells above level 5 that currently cost an action to cast take (1+spell level) turns instead? If you wanna do it faster, get someone to help you. Like a familiar.

• Less high level combat magic in general.

Also, all level 9 spells that aren’t epic get bumped down, and very few level 9 spells should be usable in a quick fight. I’d even entertain ditching spells above 6th level, tbh, or only keep the ones we can make into rituals.

• More rituals, including converting some existing spells to rituals.
  

Rituals would also have a chance of failure. A familiar can reduce that chance and the time it takes to cast. They can also help with research, crafting, etc.

This makes familiars more powerful for pure casters, as they should damn well be.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think 5e could be made a little more mystical by:
1) removing all rituals from the normal spell list and give them their own system where you must expend components and cant cast them using spellslots.

I don't think it's necessary to remove them from the spell list. Just add a couple rules to the (Ritual) tag.

2) make all spells with a casting time of more than an action a Ritual.

Remove the "all" and replace it with "most", and I'm with you. Some of those spells should absolutely require a spell slot.

3) Make Rituals take a number of hours to cast equal to their level, so they are more a downtime thing to do.

THis I very strongly disagree with. Hell, some rituals I'd make shorter to use, like Detect Magic or Animal Messenger.

4) give more esoteric names to spell instead of a name that simply describe the spell's effect.
ie: Fireball -> Offering of the Effreeti Court, Minor Illusion -> Mistborn Delusion

If we great reduce the spell list, I could maybe see this. I think it would reduce the ease of use, however.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

new assassin thread D&D 5E - Homebrew Assassin v4-ish?

While the Assassin (rogue) is the infiltrator, the Executioneer is the Half-rogue class like the paladin is to the cleric.

• Light, medium, shield, martial weapons
• Less skills, no (or less) expertise
• Extra attack at 5
• Light Sneak attack against hobbled target (poisoned, prone, surprised, stunned or restrained).
• Ability to dispatch lower CR humanoid in one shot ala cleric on a surprised hit.

The urban ''ranger'' go there. There's to much wilderness in the base ranger to make it pertinent in a City. Put the ''cant get lost in a city'' ''ignore difficult terrain in a city'' and double prof in Stealth, Investigation and tracking task in city'' in this class.

Archetypes:
Poisoner: Create poison, maybe bonus in social interaction
Vigilante: Assassin Creed style
Bounty Hunter: trap specialist, gain bonus with net and such.
Wraith: Shroud-Using assassin with 1/3 casting
Avenger: 1/3 Cleric caster

Some stuff in this post I never did anything with, like the bounty hunter and avenger concepts.

Also gonna try to find a place for the "destroy target" ability as an upgrade to Lethal at higher level, i think.

I think we can look to the cleric for this. Perhaps a situation where if you deal more than half the target’s HP in damage, and their CR XYZ or lower, they must succeed on a con save or be dropped to 0. At say...5th level at the earliest, maybe it’s the level 11 damage buff.