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<blockquote data-quote="Noah Ivaldi" data-source="post: 6836530" data-attributes="member: 6797143"><p>First, I should comment on the "Arcane Archer" that half of everyone is trying to make:</p><p>Eldritch Knight already is an arcane archer. It just isn't stuck in archery. If you want, you could make it more archery-flavored as seen in the next paragraph, but it already has the mechanics that you want.</p><p>Reflavor an arcane caster. When you cast a spell for the first time, give an archery description. Eldritch Blast example: "As my hands raise, a bow of eldritch energy, which appears to be whorls of violet and pitch black with crackles of red lightning running across it, forms in my hands. An arrow of matching energy forms knocked on it, my right hand releases the string of arcane energy, and the bolt spirals toward the goblin with a disturbing whirring noise." Make it a greatbow for Agonizing Blast, give it extra wings and doodads for Repelling Blast and Eldritch Spear, give similar descriptions for other stuff, done. Optionally, add Bracers of Archery or downtime training for proficiency with shortbow, then maybe for longbow, if you want to go pew pew when you're not casting, too.</p><p>Reflavor a ranger. If you want to change the WIS to INT or CHA, be my guest; that doesn't break anything but the ranger's flavor, which is what we're trying to do. Call your spells arcane in stead of divine. Yeah, most arcane casters can't evoke positive energy, but I guess that you're not "most" arcanists, are you? Okay, sure, if you want, you can harmlessly trade out Cure Wounds for . . . Witch Bolt, Guiding Bolt, or Thunderwave. Probably Thunderwave, really.</p><p>Reflavor a paladin and change every instance of "melee" to "ranged" on the class abilities and spells. (S)he still gets locked into one or the other, right? Seems harmless. I mean, the DM still has something to use against you: It's either range (classic pally) or resistance to piercing/the ability to run up to your face and have higher DPS via melee (new pally). I wouldn't adjust other class features to compliment it except for allowing Archery as a fighting style selection because duh.</p><p>Reflavor a war cleric to be arcane. Again, maybe switch to INT or CHA, if you don't like the idea of an arcanist whose understanding of manipulating the Weave is more of an extension of his/her broad, applied cunning, but yeah, done.</p><p>A druid or arcane trickster can be rehashed the same as an arcane caster above; it just fits the classic Arcane Archer ideal a bit less.</p><p>A rogue's or barbar's features can be reflavored as arcane wards, enhancements, infusions of arcane energy into their attacks, and such. Again, you don't even have to touch the mechanics; you just get used to a different <em>kind</em> of arcane archer than previous editions had. Barbars can already shoot bows without bracers or training, too.</p><p>Monks are the only class that really proposes a challenge, but you can still make them fit the bill like rogues or barbars.</p><p></p><p>People keep trying to make "Arcane Archer" its own class, and they end up making it 70% Eldritch Knight, 40% wizard, 20% paladin, and +1 powerful class feature. Chances are that people aren't going to come up with a cool, balanced version. If they're so hooked on the flavor, it's really easy to just plaster the flavor onto another class.</p><p></p><p>Now, back to cantrips . . .</p><p>Dazzle still irks me. Most classes aren't given radiant damage without splicing; you bring either a cleric, a really good druid, a paladin, or a lot of extra holy water flasks, 'cause radiant damage has some really great interactions with some creatures (e.g. zombies and shadows). Though there are sometimes workarounds (e.g. critical hits, which you automatically inflict on unconscious foes within 5 feet, or dealing enough damage by other means that you don't need to take advantage of vulnerabilities), it's a good sense measure. Handing out radiant damage to basically everyone shifts things a lot. Maybe it's harmless. It's a great rider effect, but it is d4s, and the rider doesn't stack, so maybe it's not going to make a big difference. I just . . . can't put my finger on it. Please, remember to report back on how it goes in playtesting, and give explicit details (party compositions, any terrain advantage, what foes were used, so on), 'cause I want to see whether or not it trivializes some weak encounters too much or makes would-be challenges normal or easy. One thing that I would suggest by looking at the spell lists, whether this gets changed in any other way or not, is taking it from warlock and giving it to sorcerer.</p><p>Ice Jet: 90 feet of cantrip range to a druid, huh? I dunno'. This is harder than it looks because you're trying to make it look worthwhile to a sorcewizalock (Oh, wait. Still need to add warlock.), but druids have that range paradigm. Well, there are three exceptions in Lv2 spells, which come early enough, so I suppose that throwing them an extra 30 or 60 feet in free range is okay as long as we're dealing with low numbers like 2d4 (average 5). I'm tempted to suggest dropping this to 60 feet again, but do some low-level druid playtesting, see if it comes up too often, and report back, eh? Ask your players if they feel like you're giving them a variety of ranges to work from, as opposed to the "every fight is in a 40*40*40 room" setup that the DM of a friend is running . . .</p><p>I like the new Rainbow Bolt, but things that still get me about it are that it's too much damage for a bard cantrip and it doesn't fit warlocks. Bards are very strictly limited in their cantrip damage without being pseudo-wizards (Lore bards) and giving up much better spells, so I was hesitant to even accept Concussive Chord, but this, allowing them to potentially hit vulnerabilities, get through resistances, work with more range, <em>and</em> have a higher base power . . . Maybe at 60' range and on d6s, it'd be okay.</p><p>Static Shock: That's better. It's still objectively better than Acid Splash, though. It covers a wider area, so it's not like we're looking at a typical two targets and taking 1 damage from one to the other; we're actually looking at the potential of more targets being hit. I hear you asking, "What's the difference between 5 and 5?" It's the difference between being 5 feet from a 0-diameter <em>point</em> in space (I put Acid Splash on this corner or this side of these two squares. I hit this cluster of four dumbasses or these two side-by-side guys.) and 5 feet out from a creature (All eight that were trying to protect the center guy are hit. Hey, look, a bigger target . . . with so many more squared around it to fill in smaller targets.), which is accounted for in the leveled spells' balance, but a clear advantage on Static Shock's part in cantrips. I see two ways that, to me, fix this: 1) Make it another Acid Splash dupe. Guaranteed to be harmless in balance and accomplishes your goal of more save-based cantrips, but redundant redundancy is redundant. B) As I did, take out the "including the original target" part and put "other" before "creatures" in that line. The main target is only taking a d6, which is appropriate for an area cantrip.</p><p>I really don't like the idea of Vigor including the CON mod, now. A DM is kinda' supposed to be able to throw a high-action day that gives the party little chance to rest. It gives them a little challenge by reducing their healing across the day, or at least making the timing less convenient than "Whenever we run low, let's take a break," you know? It's supposed to be a thing that happens. Of course, short rest class features are a major part of that, too, but so's the healing. This gives a player the agency to say, "I'm going to burn a cantrip to make sure that one of your DM tools doesn't work the way that you want it to," much like a cantrip that makes you automatically succeed on certain ability checks. Oh, also, this feels like a transmutation to me; you turn part of the target's vitality into a more presently applicable kind, rather than evoking positive energy to just give them more vitality.</p><p>I like the other cantrip changes.</p><p>This is hard, I know. Cantrips are really hard to deal with without stepping on boundaries that are intentionally built in, but easy to overlook at a glance.</p><p></p><p>I'd move on, but there's a storm in my area, and I really don't want to have to redo one of these blasted posts again. The site's little auto-saving feature doesn't do me any favors when I have no way to save or access drafts.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Noah Ivaldi, post: 6836530, member: 6797143"] First, I should comment on the "Arcane Archer" that half of everyone is trying to make: Eldritch Knight already is an arcane archer. It just isn't stuck in archery. If you want, you could make it more archery-flavored as seen in the next paragraph, but it already has the mechanics that you want. Reflavor an arcane caster. When you cast a spell for the first time, give an archery description. Eldritch Blast example: "As my hands raise, a bow of eldritch energy, which appears to be whorls of violet and pitch black with crackles of red lightning running across it, forms in my hands. An arrow of matching energy forms knocked on it, my right hand releases the string of arcane energy, and the bolt spirals toward the goblin with a disturbing whirring noise." Make it a greatbow for Agonizing Blast, give it extra wings and doodads for Repelling Blast and Eldritch Spear, give similar descriptions for other stuff, done. Optionally, add Bracers of Archery or downtime training for proficiency with shortbow, then maybe for longbow, if you want to go pew pew when you're not casting, too. Reflavor a ranger. If you want to change the WIS to INT or CHA, be my guest; that doesn't break anything but the ranger's flavor, which is what we're trying to do. Call your spells arcane in stead of divine. Yeah, most arcane casters can't evoke positive energy, but I guess that you're not "most" arcanists, are you? Okay, sure, if you want, you can harmlessly trade out Cure Wounds for . . . Witch Bolt, Guiding Bolt, or Thunderwave. Probably Thunderwave, really. Reflavor a paladin and change every instance of "melee" to "ranged" on the class abilities and spells. (S)he still gets locked into one or the other, right? Seems harmless. I mean, the DM still has something to use against you: It's either range (classic pally) or resistance to piercing/the ability to run up to your face and have higher DPS via melee (new pally). I wouldn't adjust other class features to compliment it except for allowing Archery as a fighting style selection because duh. Reflavor a war cleric to be arcane. Again, maybe switch to INT or CHA, if you don't like the idea of an arcanist whose understanding of manipulating the Weave is more of an extension of his/her broad, applied cunning, but yeah, done. A druid or arcane trickster can be rehashed the same as an arcane caster above; it just fits the classic Arcane Archer ideal a bit less. A rogue's or barbar's features can be reflavored as arcane wards, enhancements, infusions of arcane energy into their attacks, and such. Again, you don't even have to touch the mechanics; you just get used to a different [i]kind[/i] of arcane archer than previous editions had. Barbars can already shoot bows without bracers or training, too. Monks are the only class that really proposes a challenge, but you can still make them fit the bill like rogues or barbars. People keep trying to make "Arcane Archer" its own class, and they end up making it 70% Eldritch Knight, 40% wizard, 20% paladin, and +1 powerful class feature. Chances are that people aren't going to come up with a cool, balanced version. If they're so hooked on the flavor, it's really easy to just plaster the flavor onto another class. Now, back to cantrips . . . Dazzle still irks me. Most classes aren't given radiant damage without splicing; you bring either a cleric, a really good druid, a paladin, or a lot of extra holy water flasks, 'cause radiant damage has some really great interactions with some creatures (e.g. zombies and shadows). Though there are sometimes workarounds (e.g. critical hits, which you automatically inflict on unconscious foes within 5 feet, or dealing enough damage by other means that you don't need to take advantage of vulnerabilities), it's a good sense measure. Handing out radiant damage to basically everyone shifts things a lot. Maybe it's harmless. It's a great rider effect, but it is d4s, and the rider doesn't stack, so maybe it's not going to make a big difference. I just . . . can't put my finger on it. Please, remember to report back on how it goes in playtesting, and give explicit details (party compositions, any terrain advantage, what foes were used, so on), 'cause I want to see whether or not it trivializes some weak encounters too much or makes would-be challenges normal or easy. One thing that I would suggest by looking at the spell lists, whether this gets changed in any other way or not, is taking it from warlock and giving it to sorcerer. Ice Jet: 90 feet of cantrip range to a druid, huh? I dunno'. This is harder than it looks because you're trying to make it look worthwhile to a sorcewizalock (Oh, wait. Still need to add warlock.), but druids have that range paradigm. Well, there are three exceptions in Lv2 spells, which come early enough, so I suppose that throwing them an extra 30 or 60 feet in free range is okay as long as we're dealing with low numbers like 2d4 (average 5). I'm tempted to suggest dropping this to 60 feet again, but do some low-level druid playtesting, see if it comes up too often, and report back, eh? Ask your players if they feel like you're giving them a variety of ranges to work from, as opposed to the "every fight is in a 40*40*40 room" setup that the DM of a friend is running . . . I like the new Rainbow Bolt, but things that still get me about it are that it's too much damage for a bard cantrip and it doesn't fit warlocks. Bards are very strictly limited in their cantrip damage without being pseudo-wizards (Lore bards) and giving up much better spells, so I was hesitant to even accept Concussive Chord, but this, allowing them to potentially hit vulnerabilities, get through resistances, work with more range, [i]and[/i] have a higher base power . . . Maybe at 60' range and on d6s, it'd be okay. Static Shock: That's better. It's still objectively better than Acid Splash, though. It covers a wider area, so it's not like we're looking at a typical two targets and taking 1 damage from one to the other; we're actually looking at the potential of more targets being hit. I hear you asking, "What's the difference between 5 and 5?" It's the difference between being 5 feet from a 0-diameter [i]point[/i] in space (I put Acid Splash on this corner or this side of these two squares. I hit this cluster of four dumbasses or these two side-by-side guys.) and 5 feet out from a creature (All eight that were trying to protect the center guy are hit. Hey, look, a bigger target . . . with so many more squared around it to fill in smaller targets.), which is accounted for in the leveled spells' balance, but a clear advantage on Static Shock's part in cantrips. I see two ways that, to me, fix this: 1) Make it another Acid Splash dupe. Guaranteed to be harmless in balance and accomplishes your goal of more save-based cantrips, but redundant redundancy is redundant. B) As I did, take out the "including the original target" part and put "other" before "creatures" in that line. The main target is only taking a d6, which is appropriate for an area cantrip. I really don't like the idea of Vigor including the CON mod, now. A DM is kinda' supposed to be able to throw a high-action day that gives the party little chance to rest. It gives them a little challenge by reducing their healing across the day, or at least making the timing less convenient than "Whenever we run low, let's take a break," you know? It's supposed to be a thing that happens. Of course, short rest class features are a major part of that, too, but so's the healing. This gives a player the agency to say, "I'm going to burn a cantrip to make sure that one of your DM tools doesn't work the way that you want it to," much like a cantrip that makes you automatically succeed on certain ability checks. Oh, also, this feels like a transmutation to me; you turn part of the target's vitality into a more presently applicable kind, rather than evoking positive energy to just give them more vitality. I like the other cantrip changes. This is hard, I know. Cantrips are really hard to deal with without stepping on boundaries that are intentionally built in, but easy to overlook at a glance. I'd move on, but there's a storm in my area, and I really don't want to have to redo one of these blasted posts again. The site's little auto-saving feature doesn't do me any favors when I have no way to save or access drafts. [/QUOTE]
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