D&D 5E "Champion" equivalent Magic User?

[Staccat0]

Has anyone had any luck hacking together a magic user who is about as easy to use as the Champion for people who aren't terribly interested in mechanics? I wish the Warlock was this but there are so many moving pieces at a glance.

 

[Horwath]

Warlock: just take invocations that buff up eldritch blast and spam it.

Might not be the best usage of warlock but it will get the job done.

Also champion is simple if you want it. In combat you can always try to grapple, trip, shove, use improvised actions...It's simple if you just "auto attack" with it.

 

[hastur_nz]

Warlock chooses a new spell every level, same as Sorcerer, in fact arguably it's at least as complex as the sorcerer.

IMO, D&D has never had, and never will have, a magic-using equivalent of "simple fighter". The nature of D&D magic is such that it starts off somewhat simple, but the complexity grows as you level up. It's not a bug, it's a feature.

If you want a simple hack, just do what I did with my young daughter when she wanted to play D&D with me one day... Let the magic system be "tell me what you want to do", then as DM you work out what happens. Seriously, no rules, just let them cast whatever "spells" they can dream up, and you can work out the effects, limitations etc, as you go along. Obviously, you have appropriate hit rolls, saves, damage, etc, but there's no defined list of what you can and can't do; it's pure imagination.

 

[Staccat0]

Warlock chooses a new spell every level, same as Sorcerer, in fact arguably it's at least as complex as the sorcerer.

IMO, D&D has never had, and never will have, a magic-using equivalent of "simple fighter". The nature of D&D magic is such that it starts off somewhat simple, but the complexity grows as you level up. It's not a bug, it's a feature.

If you want a simple hack, just do what I did with my young daughter when she wanted to play D&D with me one day... Let the magic system be "tell me what you want to do", then as DM you work out what happens. Seriously, no rules, just let them cast whatever "spells" they can dream up, and you can work out the effects, limitations etc, as you go along. Obviously, you have appropriate hit rolls, saves, damage, etc, but there's no defined list of what you can and can't do; it's pure imagination.

Oh for sure. I have a simple homebrew system where magic works that way but is super dangerous and always "costs" you something. I was honestly curious to read some homebrew classes. Maybe a Eldricht Blast Warlock is pretty close to what I was thinking. It just reads so crazy to a beginner.

 

[TwoSix]

Warlock chooses a new spell every level, same as Sorcerer, in fact arguably it's at least as complex as the sorcerer.

IMO, D&D has never had, and never will have, a magic-using equivalent of "simple fighter". The nature of D&D magic is such that it starts off somewhat simple, but the complexity grows as you level up. It's not a bug, it's a feature.

I can't say I agree with that, although a precise definition of "magic-using" could cause disagreements. The 3.5 warlock and warmage, the 4e Essentials sorcerer, and the PF Kineticist (PF, to me, is fairly obviously part of the D&D lineage) are all versions of a simple magic user.

Make a warlock variation with Eldritch Blast baseline, more Invocation choices, and automatic upgrades to Eldritch Blast. Drop spells and Mystic Arcanum. Make a different subclass route that doesn't give spell options, simply some of the interesting once per Long Rest or at-will abilities that warlock already gets, like Hurl through Hell or at-will Telepathy. Simple enough blasting and option focused magic-user, with little to no resource tracking.

 

[Charles Rampant]

Warlock is easy enough in play, and the closest you'll get, but you absolutely will need to provide a helping hand to do the character creation in this context. The Warlock's really complex to build, but simple to play. The Sorcerer, in my limited experience, is the opposite.

 

[Xeviat]

I'd actually build such a hack off the Fighter.

But the sunsoul monk is actually a fairly simple blaster. They can punch stuff, sure, but they have at will multiple ranged attacks and an at will fireball, and a few other things that can be cast with ki.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I once played an ''old-school'' mage-type PC made with an str/int eldritch knight and some feats. I mostly used only cantrip and kept my spellslots for defense/utility. I played him as a would with a wizard, but much sturdier. Remember that you dont name spells when you use them, the spell exist only in the description you make to your table. If I say ''I hurl a fireball at this ennemy'' it is in fact only a firebolt, but in the narrative of the game, my character is an old wizard in (armored) robes who throws balls of fire, teleport, can inflict disadvantage to his spells and can be used in melee or range.

Take a V.Human with magic initiate to have some more cantrips for utility.
Wear a robe reinforced with mail (use the chainmails for stats), you have fighter HP and saves to help you survive the day.
Take Defense fighting style and say you have a runic ward protecting you.
Have a two-handed staff and use Green-flame blade, booming blade, shocking grasp for melee, and firebold, ray of frost for range.
You can summon your staff back to your hand, Gandalf-style
You can chain two spells together with Action Surge, teleporting while doing so at lvl 15.
Take your bonus feats at lvl 6 and 14 to get more utility from feats like Arcanist, Warcaster, Spellsniper, Ritual caster, Alchemist etc

This was the most ''wizard-y'' character I ever played, even more than pure casters.

 

[Li Shenron]

Has anyone had any luck hacking together a magic user who is about as easy to use as the Champion for people who aren't terribly interested in mechanics? I wish the Warlock was this but there are so many moving pieces at a glance.

I tried to design a "basic" Wizard a long time ago, just as an exercise. I don't remember the details, but the key to keep the complexity minimal is:

- keep the core class as-is and just create a new archetype (Arcane Tradition for Wizard)
- have all the archetype features just grant passive bonuses or increase numbers for pre-existing features, but nothing really new

 

[Tony Vargas]

Has anyone had any luck hacking together a magic user who is about as easy to use as the Champion for people who aren't terribly interested in mechanics? I wish the Warlock was this but there are so many moving pieces at a glance.

Nothing much in 5e, as yet.

The Warlock does put in a pretty good showing as an at-will damage spammer via Eldritch Blast, so a Warlock simply stripped of it's slots, mystic arcana, and other fiddly bits might get pretty close.

IMO, D&D has never had, and never will have, a magic-using equivalent of "simple fighter".

The Essentials Sorcerer(Elementalist) was something of the sort. It zapped away at-will, and had an encounter power that blasted a little wider/harder. Still not quite as simplistic as the Essentials Fighter(Slayer), perhaps, but simpler than pre-E 4e classes and simpler than any 5e class - about on par with the Champion, really.