D&D 5E My Swordmage Homebrew, Any thoughts On It?

[doctorbadwolf]

i think i'll jsut add the magic damage at first, the three subclasses at 3rd kinda cover that latter bit in my swordmage design, Bladesmith is meant to be a skill/versatility build with extra spells and maneuvers, Rune Knight is meant to be more reliable and defensive having access to better weapons and armor and defensive abilities, then Arcane Sniper subclass is the ranged option

do you think it would be better progression to move forward the level 14 affinity resistance ability to 8th and put natural force/divine/necrotic damage access at 14th instead?

that does sound interesting having their mark include other effects beyond a pure damage bonus like the ranger's or warlock's, personally i wouldn't put it at 1st let them play with it just for a level or two before needing to choose what to specialise in, i'm not someone who wants to decide all the choices for my character as soon as possible, as an aside i don't actually know what an aegis is/does, i've seen it referred to a few times and from context it seems to be an ability from a previous edition but i have no idea what it's actual effect is.

The aegis is just a magical field of protection, in this case for my Athamir class it provides an AC calculation and a mark. The mark has a basic effect, based loosely on the DMG optional marking feature. Then you can spend “Aether” to ramp up what the mark does, and certain features either work against a marked creature or do more against a marked creature.

 

[CreamCloud0]

There was some recent discussion about what classes might be wanted in 5E and swordmage was brought up, this was just my exploration of how one might be designed, what do people think about it? is it ballanced? is the language clear about what it means?.

SWORDMAGE
HIT POINTS
Hit Dice 1d10 per swordmage level
HP at 1st level 10+constitution mod
HP after 1st level 1d10 (or 6) plus constitution mod per swordmage level past first

PROFICIENCIES
Armor Light Armor, Medium Armor, Shields
Weapons Simple Weapons, Rapier, Scimitar, Shortsword
Tools None

Saving Throws Dexterity, Inteligence
Skills Pick two from: Athletics, Arcarna, History, Nature, Perception, Survival.

EQUIPMENT

• a) A Rapier or b) Any two Simple Weapons
• a) A Chain shirt or b) Scale mail
• a) A Simple Weapon and a Shield or b) a Shortbow and a Quiver of 20 arrows
• a) A Dungeoneer's pack or b) an Explorer's pack

Level	Core Features	Blademaster Subclass Features	Rune Knight Subclass Features	Arcane Sniper Subclass Features
1st level	Elemental Blade, Trained Monster Hunter
2nd	Gain Spellcasting (half caster), Spellstrike, Maneuvers (2)
3rd	Choice of Subclass, Extradimensional Stride	Additional Maneuvers (2+1), Expanded Spell list	Heavy Armor Proficiency, Full Martial Wpn Proficiency	Ranged Spellstrike, Ranged Martial Wpn Prfncy
4th	ASI
5th	Extra Attack	Expanded Subclass Spells	-	-
6th	Extra Maneuvers	(3+2) Total: 5	(2+1) Total: 3	(2+1) Total: 3
7th	Subclass Features	-	Guarding Rift	Peircing Shot
8th	ASI, Magic Blade Affinity Resistance
9th	-	Expanded Spell list	-	-
10th	Rift Hitchhiker

11th	-
12th	ASI
13th	Extra Maneuvers	(5+2) Total: 7 Expanded Spell list	(3+1) Total: 4	(3+1) Total: 4
14th	Affinity Resistance Expanded Elements
15th	Subclass Features	-	Tempered Senses	Swaying Shot
16th	ASI
17th	-	Expanded Spell list	-	-
18th	Twinned Element
19th	ASI
20th	Subclass Capstone	Persistant Spell	Affinity Immunity	Ricochet Projectile

Elemental Blade: All of your weapon attacks deal nonmagical damage of one of the following types: Fire, Cold, Lightning, Thunder, Acid or Poison, You can use your Bonus action to swap between any of these damage types on your turn.

Trained Monster Hunter: You have advantage on Survival (WIS) checks to track Aberrations or Elementals as well as advantage on INT checks to recall information about them.

Spellcasting: Is a Known spells halfcaster (Uses the same progression as the Ranger for spells known), Uses INT as their spellcasting modifier, A Swordmage may use any weapon that they are proficient with as an Arcane Focus and to perform the Somantic components of a spell, When you cast a spell using your weapon as an Arcane Focus you may pick any one of the energy types dealt by the spell to attune your Elemental Blade ability to, You always know the spells Chromatic Orb, Detect Evil and Good and Protection from Evil and Good and they do not count against your number of spells known, The Swordmage spell list is below.

spells of 1st level	spells of 2nd level	spells of 3rd level	spells of 4th level	spells of 5th level
Bane Chromatic Orb Charm Person Detect Evil and Good Dissonant Whispers Ensnaring Strike Faerie Fire Guiding Bolt Inflict Wounds Magic Missile Protection from Evil and Good Ray of Sickness Armor of Agathys Arms of Hadar Hail of Thorns	Shatter Blur Ray of Enfeeblement Crown of Madness Enthrall Hold Person Levitate Melf's Acid Arrow Misty Step Moonbeam Phantasmal Force	Bestow Curse Counterspell Dispel Magic Fear Fireball Hunger of Hadar Lightning Bolt Magic Circle Vampiric Touch	Banishment Blight Conjour Minor Elementals Dimension Door Evard's Black Tentacles Phantasmal Killer	Cone of Cold Conjour Elemental Dispel Evil and Good Flame Strike Mislead Planar Binding Teleportation Circle

Spellstrike: Once per turn you can imbue any spell that directly targets a creature to deal damage or an effect into a melee weapon by expending a spell slot of an apropriate level, Until the begining of your next turn every time you make a melee weapon attack with the imbued weapon the effects of the spell take place against only the creature you attacked instead of the weapon damage, Each hit is treated as a separate casting of the spell but for the purpose of maintaining concentration all castings made in the same attack action are maintained off the same Concentration, If the to-hit conditions of the spell is a ranged spell attack replace the ranged spell attack with your weapon strike.

Maneuvers: The Swordmage knows a number of special actions they can take when they make the attack action on their turn, They may only use one Maneuver on any attack action.

You move 20ft in a straight line in any direction free of obstructions making a melee attack against any creatures in any adjacent squares to the ones that you start in, pass through or end up in.	When making a Spellstrike that has a different to-hit condition than making a ranged spell attack you can substitute your weapon strike in place of the regular to-hit conditions of the spell.
When you successfully make a standard weapon attack against a creature after your attack you can teleport the creature up to 5ft, plus an additional extra 5ft equal to your INT modifier (minimum 1).	Whenever you successfully make a weapon attack against any creature until the end of your turn it automatically deals half the damage you inflicted as well as any effects of the attack to all creatures in a 5ft radius around it.
Instead of attacking you take the Dodge action and end your turn, You get to make a weapon attack that automatically hits against any creature that makes an attack against you until the start of your next turn after they make their attack, you may use your reaction once a round to deal your attack first before they deal theirs, If the creature is out of your weapon range you teleport to the closest unoccupied square to your current location that you can reach them with your equiped weapon to attack before teleporting back to your original location and resuming the Dodge action.	When you sucessfully hit a creature with your weapon and deal damage you can make it vunerable to one of the damage types you just dealt to it for 3 rounds, you can only make each individual creature vunerable to one type of damage in this way, you can effect a total number of creatures up to to your INT modifier (minimum 1) at the same time with this ability.
You can teleport to make a melee weapon attack against a number of creatures up to to your INT modifier (minimum 1) within a 15ft radius to your position of where you activated your attack action, you do not return to your original location after you make your final attack.	You take your standard attack action and end your turn, once before the start of your next turn if you are targeted by a spell you can choose to automatically succeed on the saving throw, additionally if the spell is one compatible with the conditions of Spellstrike you can use your reaction to absorb the spell and begin your next turn with it imbued into your weapon.
When you successfully make a weapon attack against a single creature with your attack action you can inflict half damage and the effects to every creature within a 5ft radius, you can then pick one of those affected creatures and make a new attack roll against them to do the same, repeat until you either fail an attack roll or there are no other creatures within 5ft who have not already been targeted by an attack roll.	Make a melee weapon attack with a melee weapon against every creature within attack range of your position.

Subclasses: The specific abilities of the subclasses are detailed later below in the post.

Extradimensional Stride: Once per turn when you take the move action up to 10ft of the distance you are moving can be by teleportation, However you cannot teleport to a location that you cannot see, Your movement speed increases by 5ft.

Magic Blade: Your Elemental Blade attacks now count as magic damage.
Affinity Resistance: You gain resistance to any energy type your Elemental Blade is currently attuned to.

Rift Hitchhiker: If any creature teleports within 10ft of the Swordmage they can use their reaction to travel up to 100ft with them to the same location in an adjacent square or when the Swordmage teleports they can bring an additional creature than the spell or ability states with them, If the creature is unwilling they can make a CON saving throw to resist being transported.

Affinity Resistance: You gain resistance to any energy type your Elemental Blade is currently attuned to.
Expanded Elements: Force, Divine and Necrotic damage types are added to the types of damage you can change to when you use your Bonus Action to swap the damage type of your Elemental Blade feature.

Twinned Element: Your Elemental Blade feature can be attuned to two different energy types at once.

BLADEMASTER

Additional Maneuvers: You gain an extra maneuver apon getting this feature and an addtional maneuver every subsequent time you gain one.

Expanded Spell List: The following spells are added to your known spells, They do not count against your number of known spells

Spell Level	Spells
1st	Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Thunderwave
2nd	Blindness/Deafness, Scorching Ray
3rd	Slow, Hypnotic Pattern
4th	Confusion, Otiluke's Resilient Sphere
5th	Destructive Wave, Hold Monster

Persistant Spell: When you imbue a spell into your weapon with Spellstrike it remains active for an extra round longer before it ends.

RUNE KNIGHT

Heavy Armor Proficincy: You become proficient with Heavy Armor

Martial Weapon Proficincy: You become proficient in all Martial Weapons

Guarding Rift: Once per round when you take damage you can use your reaction to halve the damage taken and teleport up to 20ft away.

Tempered Senses: You have advantage on saving throws against effects inflicted through sight or hearing.

Affinity Immunity: You gain immunity to any energy type your Elemental Blade is currently attuned to.

ARCANE SNIPER

Ranged Spellstrike: You can use Spellstrike when you make an attack with a ranged or thrown weapon

Ranged Martial Weapon Proficiency: You gain proficiency with all Weapons that are in the Ranged Martial Weapon category or have the Thrown property.

Peircing Shot: Your ranged weapon attacks deal damage to and pass through a number of creatures equal to your INT modifier (minimum 1)(for a +2 modifier your attack would pass through two creatures and stop on hitting the third).

Swaying Shot: You can use your bonus action to make an attack against a creature that is adjacent to the trajectory of your ranged weapon attack, The attack counts as one of the strikes for Peircing Shot.

Ricochet Projectile: When a weapon projectile you fired hits an environmental obstacle you can change the direction the shot is travelling in from the point of impact, You can do this once per projectile, you cannot use this to hit the same creature multiple times with the same shot.

Moved/Removed features in strikethough, Locations features moved to or added in blue.

Edits made to original post.

 

[ECMO3]

I think this is mostly good. The only thing I really don't like is spellstrike. Here is how I would change it:

1. Spellstrike -

As a bonus action you can enable spell strike which lasts until the end of your next turn. When you activate spellstrike you can imbue any cantrip you know into a melee weapon, Until the begining of your next turn every time you hit with a melee weapon attack with the imbued weapon the effects of the cantrip take place in addition to the weapon damage. Each hit is treated as a separate casting of the cantrip. If the to-hit conditions of the cantrip is a ranged spell attack replace the ranged spell attack with your weapon strike. You can use spellstrike a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and you regain all uses on a long rest.

2. Considering the available spells I would also change hit dice to a d8.

I think if you did these two changes it would still be powerful, but not overpowered.

 

[CreamCloud0]

2. Considering the available spells I would also change hit dice to a d8.

Not the first person to mention this, will probably change the base hit die to a d8, however Rune Knight subclass increases to d10?

1. Spellstrike -
As a bonus action you can enable spell strike which lasts until the end of your next turn.

Bonus action for activation isn't too big of a cost, when i was writing spellstrike it was early in the design with the intention of synergising it with the maneuvers [which it still does] but i was expecting the maneuvers to to rely more heavily on the bonus action and having them competing over the resource would be counterproductive but that isn't how it turned out.

When you activate spellstrike you can imbue any cantrip you know into a melee weapon, Until the begining of your next turn every time you hit with a melee weapon attack with the imbued weapon the effects of the cantrip take place in addition to the weapon damage.

As a half caster the Swordmage does not have cantrip access, did you write this thinking they did have access in one way or another? or rather that you think that they should have access as either a full or 1/4 caster or just a 1/2 with cantrips? When i was designing i intentionally excluded the weapon damage as part of the Spellstrike knowing that they'd be casting with full spells so damage probably wouldn't be needing any bumps.

You can use spellstrike a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and you regain all uses on a long rest.

Personally between the limitations of both 1/2 caster spell slot progression and the smaller number of spells known rather than prepared they didn't need a cap on the number of uses per day, As a mechanic similar to it capping the uses of Spellstrike also seems comparable to capping the number of times a paladin could use Smite in a day [beyond available spell slots] which to me just seems odd.

I think this is mostly good. The only thing I really don't like is spellstrike. Here is how I would change it:

Although you did provide solutions for your issues with spellstrike you didn't state what they were in the first place, knowing why you thought it needed to be changed in the first place would help give me betting insight into any changes that might be made in the future, or at least on people's opinion of the mechanic in general.

 

[ECMO3]

Not the first person to mention this, will probably change the base hit die to a d8, however Rune Knight subclass increases to d10?


Bonus action for activation isn't too big of a cost, when i was writing spellstrike it was early in the design with the intention of synergising it with the maneuvers [which it still does] but i was expecting the maneuvers to to rely more heavily on the bonus action and having them competing over the resource would be counterproductive but that isn't how it turned out.


As a half caster the Swordmage does not have cantrip access, did you write this thinking they did have access in one way or another? or rather that you think that they should have access as either a full or 1/4 caster or just a 1/2 with cantrips? When i was designing i intentionally excluded the weapon damage as part of the Spellstrike knowing that they'd be casting with full spells so damage probably wouldn't be needing any bumps.


Personally between the limitations of both 1/2 caster spell slot progression and the smaller number of spells known rather than prepared they didn't need a cap on the number of uses per day, As a mechanic similar to it capping the uses of Spellstrike also seems comparable to capping the number of times a paladin could use Smite in a day [beyond available spell slots] which to me just seems odd.


Although you did provide solutions for your issues with spellstrike you didn't state what they were in the first place, knowing why you thought it needed to be changed in the first place would help give me betting insight into any changes that might be made in the future, or at least on people's opinion of the mechanic in general.

I missed that they do not have cantrips. I would give them cantrips.

My problem with spellstrike as is rests with the idea it modifies action economy, esentially allowing 2 actions (an attack and a spell) for the cost of 1 action/reaction/bonus and in breaks the concentration limits while also allowing extremely powerful combinations (even without the manuevers). This enables some extremely powerful combinations that would unbalance the game IMO. Limiting to cantrips would overcome this to a degree.

In terms of game-breaking mechanics that are RAW, the two most unbalanced things I've seen at the table play on action economy and concentration. Those two being multiclass baldesingers spamming EB/AB with extra attack, TWF and Hex and Fey Wanderer Rangers summoning a Fey every turn without concentration and adding frightened enemies as reactions without concentration. In tier 3 by round 4 every turn the Rangers are making 3 or 4 attacks with Fey, charming 3 enemies a turn, adding their own action (with potentially a concentration spell) and turning themselves invisible as a bonus action while other enemies are running around frightened for a minute from beguiling twist. Those two examples are narrowly focused on either cantrips only or a single spell and limited action options (bonus/reaction) only and they still push the limits of the rules.

You make a good point about the limited spell slots vs the limited uses, but when I changed it to cantrips those limits went away. Even with cantrips only this would be strictly more powerful than bladesinger extra attack as the way I wrote it, it would combine one with every attack which is why I limited it. If you are going to compare it to smite, that ability has strict damage limits based on the slot and not the spell itself and that is another alternative, making it work like smite either with damage (1d8+1d8 per spell slot spent) or with a specific effect it deals which requires a save and targets a number of creatures within 30 feet equal to the slot level spent (I would recommend either frightened, charmed or restrained) with another save at the end of every turn to end the effect. The second of these would be powerful in itself as it typically requires concentration to maintain these conditions and this would not.

 

[CreamCloud0]

I missed that they do not have cantrips. I would give them cantrips.

My problem with spellstrike as is rests with the idea it modifies action economy, esentially allowing 2 actions (an attack and a spell) for the cost of 1 action/reaction/bonus and in breaks the concentration limits while also allowing extremely powerful combinations (even without the manuevers). This enables some extremely powerful combinations that would unbalance the game IMO. Limiting to cantrips would overcome this to a degree.

In terms of game-breaking mechanics that are RAW, the two most unbalanced things I've seen at the table play on action economy and concentration. Those two being multiclass baldesingers spamming EB/AB with extra attack, TWF and Hex and Fey Wanderer Rangers summoning a Fey every turn without concentration and adding frightened enemies as reactions without concentration. In tier 3 by round 4 every turn the Rangers are making 3 or 4 attacks with Fey, charming 3 enemies a turn, adding their own action (with potentially a concentration spell) and turning themselves invisible as a bonus action while other enemies are running around frightened for a minute from beguiling twist. Those two examples are narrowly focused on either cantrips only or a single spell and limited action options (bonus/reaction) only and they still push the limits of the rules.

You make a good point about the limited spell slots vs the limited uses, but when I changed it to cantrips those limits went away. Even with cantrips only this would be strictly more powerful than bladesinger extra attack as the way I wrote it, it would combine one with every attack which is why I limited it. If you are going to compare it to smite, that ability has strict damage limits based on the slot and not the spell itself and that is another alternative, making it work like smite either with damage (1d8+1d8 per spell slot spent) or with a specific effect it deals which requires a save and targets a number of creatures within 30 feet equal to the slot level spent (I would recommend either frightened, charmed or restrained) with another save at the end of every turn to end the effect. The second of these would be powerful in itself as it typically requires concentration to maintain these conditions and this would not.

Im not inclined to just give it cantrips just so it can have cantrips, as that lack of access to them is part of the fundamental 1/2 caster spellcasting progression from what i can tell from the other 1/2 casters.

Is it allowing both attack and spell? if you're using spellstrike then you're just doing the damage/effects of the spell to the target/s but not the weapon damage and you're still expending one of your limited spell slots so it's not something you're going to be able to spam every turn, most of what maneuvers do is allow them to hit multiple targets which multiple spells already do so i don't think that will unballance them.

As a primarily melee fighter if they're going to want to be using spellstrike the concentration is going to be constantly challenged likely even multiple times in a single round, and the arcane sniper is going to have a harder time lining up multiple targets to be hit in a single attack unless they get closer to the scuffle.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

I think that spellstrike is quite well implemented in 5e already, in the form of the smite/strike spells given to paladin and ranger. Bonus action and a spell slot to activate, and then they go off on the next hit.

It's just that the arcane gish classes like eldritch knight and bladesinger are barred from having them.

 

[CreamCloud0]

I think that spellstrike is quite well implemented in 5e already, in the form of the smite/strike spells given to paladin and ranger. Bonus action and a spell slot to activate, and then they go off on the next hit.

It's just that the arcane gish classes like eldritch knight and bladesinger are barred from having them.

yeah i did consider the smite spells to put on the spellblade's list but i felt like i'd be stepping too much on the paladin's toes if i had added them.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Im not inclined to just give it cantrips just so it can have cantrips, as that lack of access to them is part of the fundamental 1/2 caster spellcasting progression from what i can tell from the other 1/2 casters.

Ranger and paladin don't, but Artificer does and they're a half-caster as well.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Ranger and paladin don't, but Artificer does and they're a half-caster as well.

fair enough, i've only really read the PHB for official material so my class is based off of their scalling