Blog (A5E) Meet the all-new official WARMAGE archetype!

[Morrus]

Released on levelup5e.com, meet the official Warmage archetype for wizards!

Warmages train for the battlefield, learning to fight alongside soldiers on the field of war. Mass-damage specialists, they are experts at area-of-effect damage, operating as magical artillery. Accustomed to such environments, warmages are vary capable of protecting themselves.

The Warmage Wizard Archetype — Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)

Released here exclusively on levelup5e.com, meet the official Warmage archetype for wizards!

www.levelup5e.com

 

[zen_cat]

Released on levelup5e.com, meet the official Warmage archetype for wizards!

Warmages train for the battlefield, learning to fight alongside soldiers on the field of war. Mass-damage specialists, they are experts at area-of-effect damage, operating as magical artillery. Accustomed to such environments, warmages are vary capable of protecting themselves.

The Warmage Wizard Archetype — Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)

Released here exclusively on levelup5e.com, meet the official Warmage archetype for wizards!

www.levelup5e.com

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I love it. Can we expect to see this included in a future book for those who don't want computers at the table? No worries if not, I'll just print it out and attach it to an existing book.

 

[lichmaster]

Love the idea!

However I think a bit of tinkering is needed: taking 1 level in fighter and then 1 level in wizard would give immediately all the benefits of Armored Wizard and Ironclad Wizard, plus all the goodies of a fighter (exertion, maneuvers, combat style, weapon proficiencies, etc).

Maybe a damage damping field (temp hp) would be more unique and not replaceable, something like
"Each round you gain x temporary hp. This number increases to y at level 6". Also, I think it needs some offensive oomph: until level 10 there's no extra damage feature whatsoever, and only a limited battlefield control option at level 6.

 

[Steampunkette]

Hey, Lichmaster, couple things!

1) If you take a level of fighter to gain those things you're delaying your 3rd level spells, shorting yourself an ASI and your Wizard capstone, and basically starting with an AC of 16, 17 tops. (Since level 1 characters can't afford Plate Armor the heaviest you can use is a Hauberk, which is 16+1 from Arcane Shield). Decent enough tradeoff if your dex is bad at 1 and you really want maneuvers. But with Mage Armor or a Chain Shirt (13+Dex) and a +2 dex mod you're at 16 with Arcane Shield and 0 levels of fighter required.

2) The point of the archetype isn't to make it explicitly heavily armored. The Armor Proficiencies are practically ribbons alongside the main benefits of Arcane Shield (which stacks with Mage Armor, Bracers of Armor, and more), Sculpt Battlefield, Siege Mage, Battlefield Blaster, and Arcane Support.

 

[lichmaster]

Hey, Lichmaster, couple things!

1) If you take a level of fighter to gain those things you're delaying your 3rd level spells, shorting yourself an ASI and your Wizard capstone, and basically starting with an AC of 16, 17 tops. (Since level 1 characters can't afford Plate Armor the heaviest you can use is a Hauberk, which is 16+1 from Arcane Shield). Decent enough tradeoff if your dex is bad at 1 and you really want maneuvers. But with Mage Armor or a Chain Shirt (13+Dex) and a +2 dex mod you're at 16 with Arcane Shield and 0 levels of fighter required.

2) The point of the archetype isn't to make it explicitly heavily armored. The Armor Proficiencies are practically ribbons alongside the main benefits of Arcane Shield (which stacks with Mage Armor, Bracers of Armor, and more), Sculpt Battlefield, Siege Mage, Battlefield Blaster, and Arcane Support.

I see your points, but at the same time what I see as the defining features of this archetype only come at level 10 and 14, which is quite the wait IMO.
The other features feel a bit underwhelming: 2 are described by yourself as ribbon, one I'd classify as ribbon too (siege monster, damage to structures is not something that comes into play that often if ever) and one is a simple bonus to AC (although it's nice that it can stack). Sculpt battlefield is very useful, although I don't think I'd ever burn a spell slot for any of the additional effects except for the party immunity

 

[Tessarael]

The AC bonus from Arcane Shield is very nice as it stacks with other AC sources, and it keeps your hand free for spellcasting. Medium and heavy armor proficiency also helps a lot with AC for the Wizard, for those with lower Dexterity - they're very helpful for a single-classed Wizard who wants to go down that path.

Battlefield Blaster is a bit weird, in that it benefits more the area-of-effect spells that have lower dice like d4, but actually I don't see many with d4 in A5E (the Pestilence cantrip, not much else). The Arcane Support ability at level 14 is quite nice. Sculpt Battlefield as a bonus action is very cool, especially as there's no limit to how often you can do it, it just resets the one that you did last if that one is still in effect.

Overall, I think it is quite good for a single-classed Wizard. For a multi-classed Wizard that already gets armor + shield proficiency from another class, sure it's not what you would take for Wizard archetype, but that's fine.

 

[WanderingMystic]

So overall this is a nice addition to the wizard available wizard archetypes. Your level 6, level 10 and level 14 features really make you feel like you are a battlefield caster with your abilities to slow enemies, deal more damage to an area or mass enchant your group/party. The level 2 ability is very nice and useful however you don't really feel like a battlefield caster, just a more defensive one.

 

[Corinnguard]

It's an interesting wizard archetype. Since a number of it's features deal with controlling the battlefield, I could see this archetype focusing mostly on abjuration and evocation magic.

 

[Morrus]

So overall this is a nice addition to the wizard available wizard archetypes. Your level 6, level 10 and level 14 features really make you feel like you are a battlefield caster with your abilities to slow enemies, deal more damage to an area or mass enchant your group/party. The level 2 ability is very nice and useful however you don't really feel like a battlefield caster, just a more defensive one.

A lot of it is about your choice of spells. Load out on fireballs, lightning bolts, etc. and you'll feel a lot less defensive!

 

[Mark Essel]

is there clarification on what spells battlefield blaster effects?
like wall of fire, or black tentacles (or even druid spells like spike growth, or cleric spells like spiritual guardians)

so far we gathered it's designed for instantaneous damage spells like thunderwave, burning hands, fireball, etc but from the wording it wasn't clear if it would effect aoe damage spells with a duration

 

[Morrus]

is there clarification on what spells battlefield blaster effects?
like wall of fire, or black tentacles (or even druid spells like spike growth, or cleric spells like spiritual guardians)

so far we gathered it's designed for instantaneous damage spells like thunderwave, burning hands, fireball, etc but from the wording it wasn't clear if it would effect aoe damage spells with a duration

There isn’t. I wasn’t aware it was necessary! It applies to area of effect damage spells. What are you finding unclear about the feature?

 

[Bast L]

I was running it, and he asked me if it affects the damage from black tentacles. It's an area spell, and it does damage, so it could be considered an area of effect damage spell, but it seems unclear if it was intended to affect the damage that the tentacles do on each creature's turn. Spike growth, wall of fire, and other non-instantaneous effect spells are really what we're wondering about.

In short: is the spell "Black Tentacles" an area of effect damage spell, for the purposes of this feature? If not, what about wall of fire, which I believe does do damage immediately? Or is it intended to work only on spells that do their damage instantaneously to everyone in the area?

Edit: it's since been pointed out to me that Black Tentacles doesn't have a cube shape, so it wouldn't fit the requirement anyways, but then I would instead ask if it applies to Cloudkill.

 

[Tessarael]

I'd argue that a spell that only does damage "when a creature starts its turn in the area, or enters the area for the first time on its turn," is not doing area of effect damage. By the rules as written (RAW), I think that area of effect damage is when all creatures in the area of effect take damage at the same time. I'd also argue from a combat simplicity and speed standpoint that I don't as a DM or fellow player want to deal with Battlefield Blaster for ongoing effects each round - by the rules as intended (RAI), it is intended essentially for use once per round when the Warmage casts a spell blasting an area with damage.

Now that said, is it going to break game balance if you permit it to apply to spells like Cloudkill or Black Tentacles? No. But my recommendation if you want to go down that path is to have it apply a flat damage increase (the average based on the statistics for number of die and type of die) to avoid the additional rolls slowing down combat.

As an aside, I have the same issue with things like the Great Weapon Fighting style. A flat damage bonus is easier to factor in ahead of time, and hence is faster to handle in combat / avoids being forgotten, than a reroll that only triggers on certain occasions, namely a damage die roll of 1 or 2 for Great Weapon Fighting. It would have been much more simply implemented as say a flat +2 damage bonus for melee two-handed weapon use, similar to the Dueling fighting style.

 

[Bast L]

Yeah, this is pretty much how I was leaning, I just wasn't sure of the intent.

 

[Morrus]

Or is it intended to work only on spells that do their damage instantaneously to everyone in the area?

There's no requirement for instantaneous damage only in the feature, no, and there was no intention for one. I definitely envisaged battlefield control as encompassing walls and terrain features. The feature is intended to affect any spell which (a) does damage and (b) has an area entry in its stat block.

 

[Morrus]

I'd argue that a spell that only does damage "when a creature starts its turn in the area, or enters the area for the first time on its turn," is not doing area of effect damage.

I can see that, and I think that interpretation would be fine. It's not the one I use, but I don't think either interpretation breaks anything.

 

[Mark Essel]

Thanks all for the conversation and RAI. We're big fans of the system.

 

[Tessarael]

For those who might want to use a flat damage bonus instead for Battlefield Blaster, here's the damage increase by damage die type:

• d2: 1.5 + 0.500 + 0.375 + 0.188 ... = 3.00 average, +100% damage
• d3: 2.0 + 0.667 + 0.222 + 0.074 ... = 3.00 average, +50% damage
• d4: 2.5 + 0.625 + 0.156 + 0.039 ... = 3.33 average, +33% damage
• d5: 3.0 + 0.600 + 0.120 + 0.024 ... = 3.75 average, +25% damage
• d6: 3.5 + 0.583 + 0.097 + 0.016 ... = 4.20 average, +20% damage
• d8: 4.5 + 0.562 + 0.070 + 0.009 ... = 5.14 average, +14% damage
• d10: 5.5 + 0.550 + 0.055 + 0.006 ... = 6.11 average, +11% damage
• d12: 6.5 + 0.542 + 0.045 + 0.004 ... = 7.09 average, +9% damage
• d20: 10.5 + 0.525 + 0.026 + 0.001 ... = 11.05 average, +5% damage
• d100: 50.5 + 0.505 + 0.005 ... = 51.01 average, +1% damage

If you roll 4d4 for Pestilence cantrip cast at 15th level, your average damage increases to 4d4+3.
If you roll 6d6 for Fireball, your average damage increases to 6d6+4.
If you roll 14d6 for Meteor Swarm, your average damage increases to 14d6+10.
If you roll 8d8 for Cone of Cold, your average damage increases to 8d8+5.
If you roll 6d10 for Blade Barrier, your average damage increases to 6d10+4.

So as a rule of thumb instead of doing the math, you get +1 damage per damage die rolled. It is a little on the generous side, but much simpler to handle in combat to save time.

 

[Mark Essel]

For those who might want to use a flat damage bonus instead for Battlefield Blaster, here's the damage increase by damage die type:

• d2: 1.5 + 0.500 + 0.375 + 0.188 ... = 3.00 average, +100% damage
• d3: 2.0 + 0.667 + 0.222 + 0.074 ... = 3.00 average, +50% damage
• d4: 2.5 + 0.625 + 0.156 + 0.039 ... = 3.33 average, +33% damage
• d5: 3.0 + 0.600 + 0.120 + 0.024 ... = 3.75 average, +25% damage
• d6: 3.5 + 0.583 + 0.097 + 0.016 ... = 4.20 average, +20% damage
• d8: 4.5 + 0.562 + 0.070 + 0.009 ... = 5.14 average, +14% damage
• d10: 5.5 + 0.550 + 0.055 + 0.006 ... = 6.11 average, +11% damage
• d12: 6.5 + 0.542 + 0.045 + 0.004 ... = 7.09 average, +9% damage
• d20: 10.5 + 0.525 + 0.026 + 0.001 ... = 11.05 average, +5% damage
• d100: 50.5 + 0.505 + 0.005 ... = 51.01 average, +1% damage

If you roll 4d4 for Pestilence cantrip cast at 15th level, your average damage increases to 4d4+3.
If you roll 6d6 for Fireball, your average damage increases to 6d6+4.
If you roll 14d6 for Meteor Swarm, your average damage increases to 14d6+10.
If you roll 8d8 for Cone of Cold, your average damage increases to 8d8+5.
If you roll 6d10 for Blade Barrier, your average damage increases to 6d10+4.

So as a rule of thumb instead of doing the math, you get +1 damage per damage die rolled. It is a little on the generous side, but much simpler to handle in combat to save time.

that's great Tessarael, we're using foundry so it handles it in the vtt

 

[lichmaster]

For those who might want to use a flat damage bonus instead for Battlefield Blaster, here's the damage increase by damage die type:

• d2: 1.5 + 0.500 + 0.375 + 0.188 ... = 3.00 average, +100% damage
• d3: 2.0 + 0.667 + 0.222 + 0.074 ... = 3.00 average, +50% damage
• d4: 2.5 + 0.625 + 0.156 + 0.039 ... = 3.33 average, +33% damage
• d5: 3.0 + 0.600 + 0.120 + 0.024 ... = 3.75 average, +25% damage
• d6: 3.5 + 0.583 + 0.097 + 0.016 ... = 4.20 average, +20% damage
• d8: 4.5 + 0.562 + 0.070 + 0.009 ... = 5.14 average, +14% damage
• d10: 5.5 + 0.550 + 0.055 + 0.006 ... = 6.11 average, +11% damage
• d12: 6.5 + 0.542 + 0.045 + 0.004 ... = 7.09 average, +9% damage
• d20: 10.5 + 0.525 + 0.026 + 0.001 ... = 11.05 average, +5% damage
• d100: 50.5 + 0.505 + 0.005 ... = 51.01 average, +1% damage

If you roll 4d4 for Pestilence cantrip cast at 15th level, your average damage increases to 4d4+3.
If you roll 6d6 for Fireball, your average damage increases to 6d6+4.
If you roll 14d6 for Meteor Swarm, your average damage increases to 14d6+10.
If you roll 8d8 for Cone of Cold, your average damage increases to 8d8+5.
If you roll 6d10 for Blade Barrier, your average damage increases to 6d10+4.

So as a rule of thumb instead of doing the math, you get +1 damage per damage die rolled. It is a little on the generous side, but much simpler to handle in combat to save time.

While these formulas are correct and may be applied when time is an issue (i.e. rolling these exploding dice all the time) or when the VTT platform does not support exploding dice, they only compute the average result.

Single realizations of exploding 6d6 may however result in way more than an expected +4: with 6d6+4 one can roll up to a maximum of 40 damage, and there's only (1/6)^6 chances for this to happen (approx 0,002 %).
However, there's really no upper bound to damage when actually rolling exploding dice.

So I'd personally keep the "fun" aspect of relatively unlikely but potentially very very high results instead of just getting a "boring" flat bonus.