D&D 5E Advice Sought - Beneficial Curse Mechanic

[Henry]

Inspired by Pathfinder's Horror Adventures Curse mechanic, I find myself taunting one of my Wizard Players who has willingly delved too deeply into dark Netherese Necromancy secrets, and is progressively becoming more Lichlike as he both seeks to break the curse, and yet keeps willingly accepting dark boons I give him. So far, it's been stuff like minor bonuses to AC and INT/WIS/CHA, at the expense of 1 hit point per level max being removed from his hit point total. He recently accepted a boon for increased necromantic spell power. (INFO: He is currently a Level 9 Necromancy Wizard, and he's already been told that the "removes all hit point maximum penalties doesn't apply to this curse)

However, I'm choking on the appropriate level of benefit and penalty to give, and am hoping for advice from the homebrewers and rule designers of the forum to give me some lateral thinking because I'm having a bit of writer's block.

Here's my current plan:

Arcane Recovery: Once per Long Rest, in addition to the regular Arcane Recovery, he may, as a Bonus action, regain his level in spell slots. SUPER powerful, I know. But meant to be tempting.

PENALTY: Either:
1) He casts all NON-necromancy spells with spell attack bonus and save DC at half proficiency, OR
2) He casts all NON-necromancy spells with spell attack bonus and save DC with NO proficiency bonus.

In addition, I'm adding some RP touches that give him a reason to be fearful of the change (e.g. food and drink are losing all taste for him, sleep is getting more difficult, getting just enough to restore his spells, etc.)

#2 Feels too hard of a hit, even for such a powerful ability, but I'm unsure if #1 is too light. I want him to be tempted by these ancient and powerful abilities, but also to carry a penalty stiff enough that he would still have a strong reason to keep seeking the elements to lift the curse. At the same time I don't want to cripple his usefulness to the party.

OR, if you have other suggestions on good boons and penalties to fit the Lich-Curse theme, I'm all ears. Thanks to everyone in advance!

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I think #1 is plenty heavy as a penalty, especially if you round down as I presume you would (because that's the 5E rule). It reduces his versatility and channels him down the necromancer-only path. If you wanted to be extra harsh you could also say "and any damage dealt is reduced by one die", which isn't strictly necessary from a balance perspective (based on this one ability, anyway) but does nicely channel him even further down the path to the Dark Side.

The one change I would make is that, like regular Arcane Recovery, he can't regain spells over 5th level with this feature. 5E tightly controls access to 6th level spells and up.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Do 5Ed Liches have things like fear auras, corpse like odors, or other classic undead attributes? Start adding those incrementally.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

This seems cool. But in 5e, things tend to be streamlined whenever possible. For the Arcane Recovery, I might say he has disadvantage on spell attacks for non-necromancy spells, and targets have advantage on saves against non-necromancy spells. It's less math, but a bit more rolling.

I don't know what other boons you may provide, but I have ideas regarding potential "curses."

1) As the necromancer delves deeper into the secrets of necromancy's forbidden lore, and the dark energies course through his flesh, his body ages more quickly and becomes more frail. The touch of death leaves it's print upon his health. He loses weight, his bones protrude and his skin begins to hang loosely from his frame. He has difficulty breathing as he develops a consistent wheeze.

Mechanics: He always has at least one level of exhaustion that never goes away.

2) The secrets and rituals of necromancy not only affect the body, but also the mind. The veil between the mortal realm and the underworld is thinner around him, and he becomes a beacon that the restless undead seek out. Their voices grow louder, their demands more insistent. Even in dreams, he finds no relief, causing him night terrors.

Mechanics: Disadvantage on perception checks and a 20% chance that he doesn't regain hit dice over a long rest.

3) The necromancers of the past, those whose lives were snuffed out despite their attempts to extend them through unnatural means, are jealous of living necromancers. They wait in the shadows, patient for their moment. As the living necromancer's life is in danger of being extinguished, they work to pull their living spirit into the eternal darkness of oblivion.

Mechanics: The first death saving throw is always an automatic failure.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

This seems cool. But in 5e, things tend to be streamlined whenever possible. For the Arcane Recovery, I might say he has disadvantage on spell attacks for non-necromancy spells, and targets have advantage on saves against non-necromancy spells. It's less math, but a bit more rolling.

It does imply though that his non-necromantic spells don't suffer any penalty against Mind Flayers/Demons/Tarrasques/etc., because Magic Resistance already gives them advantage, and advantage is binary.

In some cases (notably with the Cover rules and the GWM/Sharpshooter option and the Bless spell) 5E does give an actual bonus, so that advantage/disadvantage can still meaningfully be stacked on top. This might be an appropriate place for that.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

[MENTION=6787650]Hemlock[/MENTION] That's true, but I guess that also depends on how often that may come up. Also, while 5e does have thing such as GWM that give flat bonuses, the hassle comes in with having to track necromancy spells vs other spells. From my persperspective, it's akin to tracking spellcasting when you're a multiclass wizard/cleric. Having two different spell DCs or spell attack bonuses for different spells is a pain. This way, it's all the same number, but now one with disadvantage.

Otherwise, I'd say go with a flat penalty, rather than either no proficiency or half proficiency. A flat -2 or -3 would be a bit easier to remember than having to base it on your proficiency bonus. At least, that's how I'd run it if it were me.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

@Hemlock That's true, but I guess that also depends on how often that may come up. Also, while 5e does have thing such as GWM that give flat bonuses, the hassle comes in with having to track necromancy spells vs other spells. From my persperspective, it's akin to tracking spellcasting when you're a multiclass wizard/cleric. Having two different spell DCs or spell attack bonuses for different spells is a pain. This way, it's all the same number, but now one with disadvantage.

Otherwise, I'd say go with a flat penalty, rather than either no proficiency or half proficiency. A flat -2 or -3 would be a bit easier to remember than having to base it on your proficiency bonus. At least, that's how I'd run it if it were me.

Maybe I'm overestimating the difficulty of the math, but it seems to me that the difficulty doesn't lie in calculating the DC, but in remembering precisely which spells to apply it to. That difficulty is the same whether you're using advantage or flat penalties or proficiency-multipliers. Either way he just writes "necromancy DC X" and "non-necromancy DC Y" on this character sheet and uses that. A fighter does harder stuff than that every time he switches between a greatsword and a longbow.

There's not much difference between proficiency multipliers and a flat -2 or -3. The proficiency multiplier starts off at -2 (he's 9th level now), and goes to -3 at 13th level, and stays there. Not a big deal.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Yea, I guess it's tomato tomato (this analogy doesn't work as well when written... tomAto tomahhto? ). Either way works out to be about the same.

 

[Ed Laprade]

Arcane Recovery: Once per Long Rest, in addition to the regular Arcane Recovery, he may, as a Bonus action, regain his level in spell slots. SUPER powerful, I know. But meant to be tempting.

I don't usually pay too much attention to the Wizard class, but don't you get all your spell slots back after a long rest? If so, you can't regain something you already have. Poor wording, or am I just a dope?

 

[Harzel]

I don't usually pay too much attention to the Wizard class, but don't you get all your spell slots back after a long rest? If so, you can't regain something you already have. Poor wording, or am I just a dope?

Not to put words in his mouth, but I think the OP might have meant something like this:

Additional Arcane Recovery: You may use a Bonus action to recover expended spell slots. The spell slots can have a combined level equal to or less than your wizard level. You cannot use this feature again until you have finished a long rest. (This does not supplant the Arcane Recovery feature; you may continue to use that feature also.)