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Chaos Bolt is the first Sorcerer-only spell. Interesting.

What I've read so far looks really good. I like the idea of Ceremony quite a bit, but some of the effects (Investiture!) might be a little overpowered.

 

[Lanliss]

Unearthly Chorus - Can we say awkward? You are being followed around by music of your choice and you get advantage on Charisma checks? I would think everyone in 100 feet would be wondering wtf was going on and probably ignore you while trying to find the source of the music! I like the concept, just not the implementation. I would have rather seen the spell fashioned after the 'Voice' from Dune (Frank Herbert). i.e. You cast the spell and your voice takes on harmonic tones making it difficult to resist, you get advantage on Charisma (Performance) checks.

I consider it like a hypnotic undertone. They don't care about the music, because the music tells them not to care. Just listen to the nice person talk, and hear how well their voice harmonizes with the beautiful background noises.

 

[fjw70]

For marriage the benefit should continue for 24 hours after each time the marriage is consummated and be lost for a month when one of the partners consummates with someone else.

 

[Dausuul]

Unearthly chorus needs to be renamed air guitar.

 

[famousringo]

I've seen others say this as well and after looking at Zephyr Strike again, it looks like this might be a bit too powerful.

I immediately wanted to compare this to Haste which has the following:
- +2 AC
- Double move speed
- Extra action (limited) per turn

Now Zephyr Strike we have:
- No attacks of opportunity against you
- Advantage on first attack per round
- +30 ft move speed

This is really powerful, and considering that most races have a 30ft move speed, adding +30 to that is essentially doubling it. Even better than doubling for small races and Dwarves. Zephyr strike seems like it might have a better home as a 2nd level spell, it might even be powerful enough for a 3rd level spell.

I think there's some ambiguity in the wording of the spell. The way I read it, the advantage and speed boost aren't a benefit the caster enjoys for the duration of the spell. They only get them for one turn, the first turn they make a weapon attack, which seems balanced to me.

Perhaps they should re-word the spell so those benefits are only gained for the turn when the spell is cast.

Been thinking on Chaos Bolt. The problem to my eyes is that the Bolt doesn't split often enough.

By my estimation it is worse than Chromatic Orb if it never splits, equal if it splits once, and superior if it splits three times, but if it is too likely to split then it will probably end up hitting every available target making it a very powerful spell overall.

My gut says a 25% chance to split is just about right, but I'm not sure how to achieve that.

Do the following get close? (I am bad at statistical analysis)

If you roll both evens or both odds (pick one of the two)

If you roll consecutive numbers (1 and 2 or 6 and 7)

Something else I'm not thinking about?

I say throw out the dice matching completely. Have the spell automatically chain on a hit and shorten the chain range to 10'. It's only going to chain until you get a miss or run out of nearby un-hit targets, so it's unlikely to hit more than two or three enemies, which is comparable to what a caster can expect from Burning Hands or Thunderwave. The advantage is that Chaos Bolt would offer better range and no collateral damage compared to other 1st level AoEs, and the tradeoff is that you do no damage at all if your first attack is a miss plus the unreliable damage type.

Also, set the scaling to d8s. Honestly, it's an exclusive spell. It should be better than Chromatic Orb.

 

[Lanliss]

For marriage the benefit should continue for 24 hours after each time the marriage is consummated and be lost for a month when one of the partners consummates with someone else.

"Lost for a month"... Not to get into a religious discussion or anything, but I think that cheating on someone you are married to should probably have repercussions for more than a month. Maybe more like "forever"? Unless your spouse permits the act, or it was against your will, then there should be no punishment.

 

[fjw70]

"Lost for a month"... Not to get into a religious discussion or anything, but I think that cheating on someone you are married to should probably have repercussions for more than a month. Maybe more like "forever"? Unless your spouse permits the act, or it was against your will, then there should be no punishment.

Lol. Give a guy or girl a break. it wouldn't get renewed unless the spouse consents.

 

[User_Undefined]

I've seen others say this as well and after looking at Zephyr Strike again, it looks like this might be a bit too powerful.

I immediately wanted to compare this to Haste which has the following:
- +2 AC
- Double move speed
- Extra action (limited) per turn

Now Zephyr Strike we have:
- No attacks of opportunity against you
- Advantage on first attack per round
- +30 ft move speed

This is really powerful, and considering that most races have a 30ft move speed, adding +30 to that is essentially doubling it. Even better than doubling for small races and Dwarves. Zephyr strike seems like it might have a better home as a 2nd level spell, it might even be powerful enough for a 3rd level spell.

Also, looking at Virtue, there aren't any rules for when you reach 5th, 11th, 17th levels. I'm thinking that +1d4 at each of those thresholds seems appropriate.

I think there's some ambiguity in the wording of the spell. The way I read it, the advantage and speed boost aren't a benefit the caster enjoys for the duration of the spell. They only get them for one turn, the first turn they make a weapon attack, which seems balanced to me.

Perhaps they should re-word the spell so those benefits are only gained for the turn when the spell is cast.

Even though I personally dislike it, this is how Crawford says the spell works. The second benefit is once per cast.

https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/849302527069884416

 

[phantomK9]

I think there's some ambiguity in the wording of the spell. The way I read it, the advantage and speed boost aren't a benefit the caster enjoys for the duration of the spell. They only get them for one turn, the first turn they make a weapon attack, which seems balanced to me.

Perhaps they should re-word the spell so those benefits are only gained for the turn when the spell is cast.

From the spell:

Zephyr Strike
1st-level transmutation
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self
Components: V
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
You move like the wind. For the duration, your movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.
In addition, the first time you make a weapon attack on your turn before the spell ends, you make the attack roll with advantage, and your speed increases by 30 feet until the end of that turn.

Note that the advantage and speed bonus last "before the spell ends". The spell is a concentration spell that lasts up to one minute. So as long as you are concentrating you would get all the benefits. Although it does seem weird that these affects would be singled out.

I think it is separated out to keep you from getting the advantage and speed if you choose to do anything with your turn other than attack. So if you decide not to attack while you are maintaining concentration on this spell you would not get the advantage (obviously) nor would you get the the +30 ft. So if you decide to drink a potion or cast a spell (non-attack, non-concentration) you would not get the +30 ft movement for the turn. Also note is states "turn" not round, which means that you wouldn't get the extra movement once your turn is over (not sure how much that matters).

 

[Lanliss]

Unearthly chorus needs to be renamed air guitar.

I would have used it as Romani-style music on my Street magician. I wonder if that would have given me a bonus on my Performing downtime activity.

 

[Lanliss]

Lol. Give a guy or girl a break. it wouldn't get renewed unless the spouse consents.

In that case, I would probably include a clause for renewal, along the lines of "A creature can only benefit from this spell once, or it can be renewed with the same consenting adult as before to continue the effects."