5e Class: Spelldancer

[StarvingGamer]

http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/ryLMLZRC

Here's another brew. This is a melee spellcaster that is somewhere between an EK and a rogue, more on the rogue side as it's a squishy damage dealing class. It's a momentum-based class that gets stronger the more it does stuff, and I've tried my best to balance it around the standard 3-round battle length.

Any and all feedback is highly appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Changelog 10/21

• Removed Athletics and Intimidation from starting skill list

 

[Caliban]

The "Ceaseless Dancing" ability first says it grants a cumulative bonus to damage rolls, but when talking about the Perform check to maintain your rhythm when you take damage, it says it's a bonus to attack rolls. Which is it?

Also, the Performance check to maintain your rhythm actually becomes harder to make as you gain levels - The Performance DC is half the damage (minimum of 10) plus your ceaseless dancing bonus. This effectively negates your proficiency bonus to performance, so you are effectively making a straight Charisma check. At higher levels you often take 22+ points of damage when facing a powerful foe, but your going to cap out at an effective +5 (from 20 charisma) to the check (and bless won't help you, since it's not a save). You don't even get the benefit of feats like Warcaster or Reslilient to help the check, since it's a Perform check instead of a Con save.

 

[StarvingGamer]

It's damage rolls, oops.

Also for the performance check, well, I'll be honest I'm very new to 5e, but I've had multiple people from multiple sources tell me how incredibly easy it is to boost Performance checks so I've taken them at their word for it. Also if you're fighting in/around your element based on your chosen style school, you get double proficiency on those checks. I mean, 22 damage is a check of 11 which isn't that bad with a +5 roll from CHA. And the bonus only negates proficiency if you're maxed, which is a lot of swings that have already hit.

Maybe in play it will turn out to be too easy to lose, need to do some actual testing. Believe me, it's something I've been agonizing over since the start.

 

[Ganymede81]

Performance checks are used to entertain an audience. I'm not sure they are appropriate for Ceaseless Dancing. Why not simply use a Concentration Check instead of reinventing the wheel?

 

[StarvingGamer]

Mmm, partially because low Con is a likely thing with this class (I mean sure I could do a Cha concentration check but that's also reinventing the wheel), and partially because it's much more thematically appropriate, at least in my mind. The way a dancer pleases an audience is by A) dancing well and B) dancing consistently, and not faltering in your step even after being smacked by a maul definitely falls into B. Maybe it's a stretch, but I'm sorta intensely married to the idea of it as a Performance check, especially because of the way I have it built in to the different style schools.

Thanks. It's something I'll think on, definitely go back and look at its performance vs a straight up Cha save.

EDIT: To put it another way, a spelldancer is always trying to please an audience, and that audience is the elemental force they are trying to tap into, if that makes any sense.

 

[Ganymede81]

I don't get it... why is he only trying to "please an audience" when he takes damage?

 

[Caliban]

I don't get it... why is he only trying to "please an audience" when he takes damage?

The Perform check represents their ability to keep dancing without losing the rhythm or making a misstep even though they have taken damage. Not just keep moving, but keep moving well - to dance instead of just move. It could be represented with a Con save like spell concentration, but they need to do it with style.

Something to consider - you could represent it with a Dex save instead of a Con save, or even a Perform(Dexterity) check instead of a Perform(Charisma) check.

 

[StarvingGamer]

I don't get it... why is he only trying to "please an audience" when he takes damage?

They're not. In the theatre of the mind, the Spelldancer is continually dancing the entire time they're in combat. But because it's basically what they're trained to do, they don't need to roll performance checks to maintain that dance until something goes wrong, namely when they take damage.

EDIT: But that's also why their spellcasting ability is CHA, because the quality of that performance to please their elemental audience is what determines the efficacy of the spells they cast.

 

[Ganymede81]

That just sounds like an awkwardly reskinned Concentration check. It is hamfisted to give something special snowflake status when it is seamlessly served by a preexisting mechanic that already does this job for a slew of spells and class abilities.

But good luck with it. Homebrew is a thankless task.

 

[discosoc]

Not a fan of the fluff, but that's not a problem you should care about. What I will say is that the Dodge action in 5e is not a very good one to have a class improve. The problem is that Dodge is kind of something that is best only here or there, otherwise it does nothing but slow the fight down (you're not attacking, and your opponent can't reliably hit you). But with the spelldancer, dodge becomes a fairly crazy tool right off the bat because you can still get an attack in as a bonus action. You may not be doing a ton of damage at first, but your opponent probably isn't going to be hitting you each round with the disadvantage, so all it does is makes the fight slow down while you build up your dancing bonus damage until deciding to fully attack. It's slow, and probably boring for everyone else at the table. Intelligent creatures are likely to just turn away and attack someone else, which is what dodge typically causes, but you aren't really sacrificing anything to make it happen.

Furthermore, the class is obviously an offensive class, so the design really should incorporate defenses as a weakness. Giving the class spells like mage armor and mirror image just don't make sense, from a balance standpoint. And speaking of spells, you've basically cherry-picked the best and most useful offensive and utility spells in the game, from what I can tell. I'd probably tone that down a bit.

Lastly, I think the theme of the class would lend itself better as a bard subclass.

Anyway, I think the overall idea is fine, in the cliche JRPG/Anime style of combat. I just think it's a bit over the top in how strong it is with both offense and defense. Even it's utility value is pretty high with being given a choice of 3 skills from a large list of some of the best skills in the game.