DIABOLIST (Glyph/Rune/Circle Arcane)

[Rachel]

Inspired by some great homebrew on this site and others, I decided to share my first ever homebrew class. Hopefully, you will like it. Feedback is definately appreciated and please use it if you like.

DIABOLIST

Class Traits
-------------------
Role: Leader. You lead by bolstering and healing your allies whilst protecting them with powerful circle magics.
Power Source: Arcane. Magic is a precise, ritualistic, and secretive art for you that hearkens on realms without boundaries.
Key Abilities: Intelligence, Wisdom, Constituition
Armor Proficiencies.: Cloth
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple melee, simple ranged
Implements: Rods

Bonus to Defense: +2 Will

Hit Points at lst Level: 12
Hit Points gained per Level: 5
Healing Surges per day: 6

Trained Skills: Arcana. From the class skills list below, choose three more trained skills at 1st level.
Class Skills: Dungeoneering (Wis), Endurance (Con), Heal (Wis), History (Int), Insight (Int), Perception (Wis), Religion (Int)

Class Features: Spell Source, Master Ritualist, Spell Circle: Boost

Diabolist Class Features----------------
Diabolists have the following class features.

Spell Source
As a diabolist, you gain power from timeless sources few can comprehend which must be channeled through symbolism.
Choose either Art of the Deep or Art of the Yonder. The choice you make grants you a specific feature and it's bonuses.

Art of the Deep
Knowledge of the secrets of magic hidden from most others, veiled in secrecy from those in whom such knowledge would torment and destroy.

[Sunken Power]
As long as you have any rune, glyph, or circle active in the current encounter, gain a +2 Power Bonus to all Fort saves.

Art of the Yonder
A preternatural mental affinity for the intricacies and chaotic intellectual maelstrom that permeates and defines all levels of spellcasting.

[Soaring Power]
As long as you have any rune, glyph, or circle active in the current encounter, gain a +2 Power Bonus to all Ref saves.

Master Ritualist
You gain the Ritual Caster feat as a bonus feat, allowing you to use magical rituals. Additionally, when casting any ritual it's cost and cast time are both reduced by half, excepting the following rituals: Enchant Magic Item, Brew Potion.


Ritual Book
Rituals: Your book contains three 1st-level rituals
of your choice that you have mastered.
At 5th level, and again at 11th, 15th, 21st, and 25th
level, you master two more rituals of your choice and
add them to your spellbook. Any ritual you add must
be your level or lower.

Diabolist Powers

[Spell Circle: Boost]
"Fingers or rod aglow with brilliant light, you cast a circle about the area, encompassing your allies and strengthening them."
Encounter- Arcane Standard Close burst 5
Targets: You and each ally in burst
Effect: Grants a +2 Power Bonus to either Attack rolls (often Destruction) or AC (often Protection) until encounter ends.

Creating a Diabolist
Intelligence and Wisdom are the most important ability scores for a diabolist. Constituition is a good second or third choice.
You may choose any powers you like, but many diabolists choose feats, skills, and powers to complement their Spell Source choice.

Destruction Diabolist
Suggested Class Feature: Art of the Yonder
Suggested Feat: Coordinated Explosion (phb2)
Suggested Skills: Arcana, History, Insight, Religion
Suggested At-Will Powers: Rune of Excitation, Glyph of Rebuking
Suggested Encounter Power: Glyph of Explosion
Suggested Daily Power: Spell Circle: Flaming

Protection Diabolist
Suggested Class Feature: Art of the Deep
Suggested Feat: Distant Advantage (phb2)
Suggested Skills: Arcana, Endurance, Heal, Perception
Suggested At-Will Powers: Radiating Strike, Glyph of Draining
Suggested Encounter Power: Rune of Indecisiveness
Suggested Daily Power: Spell Circle: Icey

Level 1 At-Will Spells
---------------------------
[Glyph of Draining]
The life force of your foe is stolen by this greedily pulsing glyph to benefit a chosen ally.
At-Will- Arcane, Healing, Implement Standard Ranged 10
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Fort Hit: 1d6 + Wis mod damage
Effect: One ally adjacent to the target regains HP equal to half the damage inflicted.

[Glyph of Rebuking]
A searing glyphic symbol delivered with contempt that also befuddles the hapless foe.
At-Will- Arcane, Implement Standard Ranged 10
Target: One creature
Attack: Intelligence vs. Will Hit: 1d8 + Int mod damage
Effect: Target is Dazed (save ends).

[Radiating Strike]
As your strike connects, gentle restorative magics ebb out to heal nearby allies.
At-Will- Arcane, Healing, Weapon Standard Melee weapon Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. AC Hit: 1[W] + Wis mod damage
Effect: All allies adjacent to target when hit regain HP equal to the caster's Con mod.
Special: Counts as a Basic Melee attack.

[Rune of Excitation]
A tiny fiery rune appears on the target's held item or weapon, instantly exciting it's molecules to white hot intensity.
At-Will- Arcane, Fire, Implement Standard Ranged 5
Target: One creature
Attack: Intelligence vs. Ref Hit: 2d4 + Int mod damage
Effect: Afflicted item may be dropped immediately. If not, target takes ongoing fire damage 2 (save ends).
Special: Counts as a Basic Ranged attack.

Level 1 Encounter Spells
------------------------------
[Glyph of Explosion]
Summons into being a glowing red glyphabove a targeted square or enemy which then explodes, dealing widespread damage.
Encounter- Arcane, Implement Standard Burst 3 Ranged 10 Target: Each enemy in burst
Attack: Intelligence vs. Fort Hit: 1d8 + Int mod damage

[Glyph of Heroism]
A shining glyph flashes over the diabolist's head as they strike, inspiring their allies to do the same.
Encounter- Arcane, Implement, Weapon Standard
Target: One creature Melee Weapon
Attack: Wisdom vs. AC Hit: 2[W] + Wis mod damage
Effect: Allies adjacent to the target may make a free Basic Melee or Basic Ranged attack against the same target.

[Rune of Armor Constriction]
Where once the marked armor defended, it now assaults, tightening around the victim's body and squeezing the life from them.
Encounter- Arcane, Implement Standard Target: One creature Ranged 5
Attack: Wisdom vs. Fort Hit: 2d4 + Wis mod damage
Special: Target must be wearing chain, scale, or plate armor. While the glyph is active, the armor cannot be removed.
Sustain Minor: Ongoing physical damage 3 (save ends).

[Rune of Indecisiveness]
A hazy blue rune appears on the forehead of an enemy, causing indecision and slowing their reactions.
Encounter- Arcane, Implement Standard Target: One creature
Ranged 5
Attack: Intelligence vs. Will Hit: 1d8 + Int mod damage
Effect: Target loses combat advantage (if it has). Also, they cannot gain combat advantage or make opportunity attacks until the caster's next turn.

Level 1 Daily Spells
------------------------
[Astral Invader]
Summons a shifting arcanic wraith which dives into the host target, opening them up to increased Arcane damage.
Daily- Arcane, Implement, Necrotic Standard Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Will Hit: 2d6 + Wis mod damage
Effect: Target gains Vulnerable Arcane 5 until the caster's next turn.
Sustain Minor: Effect continues.

[Rune of Spiked Death]
Places a jagged purple rune on the target's armor which suddenly sprouts deadly spikes on the inside, painfully lancing flesh.
Daily- Arcane, Implement Standard Target: One creature Ranged 10
Attack: Intelligence vs. Fort Hit: 3d8 + Int mod damage

[Spell Circle: Flaming]
Creates a zone defined by a faintly glowing spell circle that damages an enemy with a gout of fire roaring up from it's center.
Daily- Arcane, Fire, Implement, Zone Standard Close burst 2
Hit: 3d6 + Int mod damage plus ongoing fire damage 4 (save ends).
Effect: The burst creates a zone until the end of your next turn. The first enemy who enters the zone takes damage and the zone dissapears.

[Spell Circle: Icey]
Creates a zone defined by a faintly glowing spell circle that damages an enemy with a spike of ice lancing up from it's center.
Daily- Arcane, Cold, Implement, Zone Standard Close burst 2
Hit: 3d6 + Wis mod damage and target is Slowed (save ends).
Effect: The burst creates a zone until the end of your next turn. The first enemy who enters the zone takes damage and the zone dissapears.

Level 2 Utility Spells
----------------------------
[Glyph of Freetongue]
A soft yellow glyph appears over an ally's head, broadening their audial senses and knowledge of linquistics.
Encounter- Arcane Standard Melee touch Target: You or one ally
Effect: Choose one language at casting. Target can freely understand and speak (not write) that language until the caster's next turn.
Sustain Minor: Effect continues.

[Glyph of Lesser Warding]
A glowing green glyph wards a door, window, archway or similar portal from monsters by slowing their movements.
Daily- Arcane Standard Target: One portal Ranged 10
Effect: Each monster of the named sub-type that attempts to cross the threshold until the caster's next round may make a save to do so, and can cross unimpeded if they succeed. Otherwise, they may pass but are Dazed and Slowed (save ends).
Sustain Standard: Effect continues.

[Glyph of Resourcefulness]
A soft yellow glyph appears over an ally's head, affording them great mental clarity or nimble dexterity.
Encounter- Arcane Standard Melee touch Target: You or one ally
Effect: Grants the target a +1 plus caster's Int mod Power Bonus to their next Int or Dex key ability skill roll.

[Rune of Resizing]
Small, scrawling white runes run across the surface of an item, armor, or weapon, temporarily altering it's size.
Daily- Arcane Standard Melee touch Target: One item (worn/held or not).
Effect: The item's size becomes either one size level larger or smaller for a duration equal to the caster's Wisdom mod. So, a 2handed weapon of medium size could be shrunk to 1handed size (stats adjust accordingly) for use by small creatures, or an armor of medium size can be enlarged to fit a large sized creature. Also, a mundane item can be reduced in size to transport easier (less space and weight).
Sustain Minor: Effect continues (must touch again to do so).

PARAGON PATHS
Deathwarder
A diabolist may choose to focus his spellcraft on mastering the aspects of the epic struggle of life and death, learning to prolong and improve the first, while staving off or even preventing the second.

Realmseeker
Many diabolists are so adept at seeking out the msyteries of the arcane, that their ambition begins to extend out to the mysteries of the entire world, and specifically the most intriquing and hidden of it's places.

Rune Lord
A diabolist who truly understands the role of language and culture within his art may take to mastering the compexities of rune use as a written language capable of astonishing miracles.

Sigil Master
This diabolist seeks knowledge and mastery of a little known, almost lost focus of power; the sigil, a twisting form of living art which has strange and wondrous properties when scribed upon a mortal form.

 

[fuzzlewump]

Instead of healing, this class gives an encounter long attack or defense bonus? The dailies confuse me, what damage does the enemy take upon entering the zone, and why does it disappear? Balance issue?

Also, I'd prefer glyph of excitation if it was something like: the next time an enemy makes an attack it suffers a -2 to the attack roll and they take ____ damage. 4E doesn't really have any rules for monsters having weapons it seems, if any monster dropped a weapon it would be unclear what damage they should instead be using. Also, not every enemy has weapons, so having it be a more general spell would be useful.

The flavor behind my alternative version is that using the weapon hurts them, whether it be a sword, a claw, or wand, or slam attack.

Seems like a cool class, would like to see more.

 

[circadianwolf]

First of all, you get a lot of points for merely trying to write a class, by the far the most complex and difficult aspect of 4E homebrew. I like the idea of a class based on runes/glyphs (and apparently WOTC does too, given that there's a new Runepriest class coming in PHB3).

There are as fuzzlewump points out a number of confusing and ambiguous elements to the current version of the class. I think a lot of these are simply due to unfamiliarity with the design guidelines that underlay 4E's classes (understandable, given they've not been released to us of course, leaving us to reverse engineer them). A short list would include

• Master Ritualist: Halving all rituals' costs affects the game economy and magic item balance greatly by making items cheaper via Enchant Magic Item.
• Spell Circle: Boost: A bonus to attack rolls or defenses for all encounter, every encounter is greatly overpowered. I would try something like this:

Circle of Protection Diabolist Feature
While within this circle your enemies' attacks are dulled.
Encounter o Arcane, Zone
Minor Action o Close burst 2
Effect: You create a zone in the burst that lasts until the end of the encounter. While within the zone each enemy takes a penalty to damage rolls equal to your Wisdom modifier.

With a corresponding Circle of Destruction giving a allied bonus to damage rolls while in the burst. (These would be the two different build options.)
​

• Glyph of Rebuking: Dazed (save ends) is a vastly overpowered condition for an at-will effect. Save ends effects are almost never seen on encounters, let alone on at-wills, and dazed is one of the most powerful conditions in the game.
• Glyph of Heroism: Level 1 encounter attacks are generally either 2[W] damage or the equivalent of two attacks (or one attack with a significant condition). This power is 2[W] plus any number of additional attacks, but even a conservative 1 ally is still overpowered for this level. A balanced version would deal 1[W] damage with an effect of one adjacent ally making a melee basic attack.
• Attacks should be based off of one ability score, or, if two, the powers should be clearly delineated between them, as most characters will almost certainly use only either one type of power or the other (as with clerics, warlocks, paladins, etc.--note all these examples are from PHB1 for a reason, which is that WOTC has decided rightly that classes with two different attack stats are weaker than those with only one). Riders can use one or two secondary stats or the same stat used as attack, but they should be logical--that is, all riders for one build should be based on one stat (e.g., Protection powers have Wisdom riders and Destruction powers have Constitution riders, or something).
• The ambiguous daily effects, as fuzzlewump mentions.

Leaving aside these issues, which are mainly balance and easily ironed out with editing, there are two main concerns I have with the class:

a. The class is apparently inspired by runes and glyphs and most of the powers feature those words in their names, but there's no actual mechanic involving them (despite the suggestion of it in the feature's "as long as you have any rune, glyph, or circle active in the current encounter" clause, which has no meaning in the current class write-up). Thus I would focus on figuring out what exactly about the ideas of runes and glyphs you like and how to create a mechanic that incorporates those ideas so that they aren't simply different versions of other leader powers with different names.

Glyphs, runes, and circles suggest zones to me, perhaps with at-wills featuring the underused "area 1 square" range (currently only seen in the wizard's Cloud of Daggers). Thus perhaps:

Rune of Radiance Diabolist Attack 1
This glowing rune guides your allies' attacks.
At-Will o Arcane, Implement, Radiant, Zone
Standard Action o Area 1 square in 10
Target: All creatures in square.
Attack: Intelligence vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1d6 + Intelligence modifier radiant damage.
Effect: The attack creates a zone in the square that lasts until the end of your next turn. Any creature in the zone grants combat advantage until it leaves the zone.

or

Circle of Warding Diabolist Attack 1
You conjure a symbol that protects your allies from harm.
Encounter o Arcane, Implement, Zone
Standard Action o Area burst 1 in 10
Target: Each enemy in burst.
Attack: Intelligence vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1d6 + Intelligence modifier damage.
Effect: The attack creates a zone in the burst that lasts until the end of your next turn. While in the zone each ally gains a bonus to defenses equal to your Wisdom modifier.

My other thought was something similar to the vestige warlock or cosmic sorcerer, whereby diabolists have a stable of runes/glyphs they can activate on themselves to gain different bonuses on powers. For instance, activating the Circle of Protection might allow for riders such as this on attack powers:

Circle of Protection: If you and the target are within the zone created by your Circle of Protection power, the target takes a penalty to attack rolls until the end of your next turn. The penalty is equal to your Wisdom modifier.

b. This is a leader class without the now nigh-inevitable 2/encounter minor action surge heal. This isn't wrong, necessarily; in fact I think it's a really interesting idea you've presented, to have a leader that heals in small amounts through at-wills rather than in bursts through encounters. (The shaman is similar, although this takes the concept much farther.)

Unfortunately it's a very difficult concept to execute due to 4E's dependency on its healing surge system: healing through these at-wills completely obviates healing surges, which are a DM's primary means of controlling the length of the adventuring day. Without a need for surges a party can essentially continue on indefinitely (though without recharging daily powers).

Thus my suggestion would be to maintain the at-will healing idea, as I do think it's very innovative and worthwhile to pursue, but figure out a way to integrate it with the healing surge system. Unfortunately I can't offer any suggestions in this regard; I've been thinking about it throughout the evening (I really like the idea) and have been unable to come up with a satisfying solution.

 

[Rachel]

Thank you both for your comments, and thank you circadian for your excellent (and prompt!) analysis. I'm going to take some time (when Im not so sleepy) and consider your suggestions and see where that takes me. The only thing I can think to address specifically atm would about the inspiration of runes and glyphs but no mechanic behind...you're right! It's all "fluff" and no "crunch" behind them. I intended that. The (fluff) idea was that you conjure up glyphs which are glowy symbols that appear around/above people and places, and runes which are more like glowy written symbols that appear *directly on* things (usually items). And spell circles are just plain cool. So there ya go.

Thnx again!

 

[Rachel]

Okay I thought about this while hanging with friends at Subway for dinner!

1) Glyph of Rebuking: Dazed (save ends) is a vastly overpowered condition for an at-will effect. Save ends effects are almost never seen on encounters, let alone on at-wills, and dazed is one of the most powerful conditions in the game.

Response: I checked, and I didn't see any low lvl At-Wills with a Daze effect, and it did seem to be used in higher exp. lvls. Kudos, circadian, you got me there.

2) Master Ritualist: Halving all rituals' costs affects the game economy and magic item balance greatly by making items cheaper via Enchant Magic Item.

Response: If the Bard class gets to cast a FREE ritual at absolutely no cost at lvl 1, and then 2 and then 3 FREE rituals as they "tier-up", and thats not overpowered, then Im going to say my Master Ritualist feature is fine. (Remember, the Bard could be using Enchant Magic Item each of those times, which hearkens directly to your concern).
Kudos to me, I got *you* there.

More later.

 

[circadianwolf]

Response: If the Bard class gets to cast a FREE ritual at absolutely no cost at lvl 1, and then 2 and then 3 FREE rituals as they "tier-up", and thats not overpowered, then Im going to say my Master Ritualist feature is fine. (Remember, the Bard could be using Enchant Magic Item each of those times, which hearkens directly to your concern).
Kudos to me, I got *you* there.

They can't perform just any ritual:

In addition, you can perform one bard ritual per day of your level or lower without expending components, although you must pay any other costs and use any focus required by the ritual.

(emphasis mine)
Enchant Magic Item isn't a bard ritual. It's fine as long as you exclude Creation category rituals with a component cost of "Special".

 

[Rachel]

Hah! I totally didn't even see the "bard" ritual limitation. How on earth did I miss that? At any rate, I suppose I am pretty adamant about my vision of cheaper/easier rituals for this class, which just seems very integral to it's feel. I always felt that the generic "wizard" class just didn't feel like it should be the "undisputed master of rituals" (as the phb describes them).
A specialist wizard (in 3.x terms) is what I am thinking, thus the Diabolist.

Maybe I could just bar the Enchant Magic Item ritual in the feature's description and solve this?

 

[circadianwolf]

I fully support making rituals easier to use. And yes, simply barring Enchant Magic Item (and Brew Potion, its alchemical counterpart) from the feature works fine.

 

[Rachel]

I fully support making rituals easier to use. And yes, simply barring Enchant Magic Item (and Brew Potion, its alchemical counterpart) from the feature works fine.

Done!

 

[Dire Human]

I'm writing a response to this thread, and it's rapidly becoming a Wall of Text. Key points:

• All powers should use Intelligence for attack and damage rolls. Wisdom is used for concepts such as intuition, perception, and instinct, none of which apply to dutifully memorizing and drawing runes.
• Wholly embrace circadianwolf's Area [number] squares within [range] concept. Powers would gain the Glyph keyword, which class features would key off of. This would be class-defining, rather than leave people asking why this couldn't be a variant Wizard or Artificer.
• It cannot be stressed enough: Leader classes need a [adjective] Word, minor-action healing power. The Healing Surge and Rest system can't function without it.
• Sunken/Soaring Power is too selfish, and too powerful. Give the bonuses to your allies, perhaps within a certain range of a Glyph power.
• Lose the weapon attacks, gain melee touch implement attacks.