Which Spell Lists Should a Spell Go Onto?

[MechaTarrasque]

Since sorcerers don't currently have an official gish subclass (a couple of UA ones that didn't make the cut), you might as well leave it off for them (and if there is an archery gish sorcerer subclass in the future, it sounds like future sorcerer subclasses might have bonus level 1-2 spells). Warlock and paladins are built around melee weapons, so you can skip those. The spell has someone's name, so it would be good for wizards (and useful for eldritch knights/arcane spell thieves). It seems tailor-made for rangers, and pretty much all ranger spells are druid ones too. Bards can learn spells from any class, and this doesn't seem extra bard-y, so I would let them learn it via magic secrets. I think that just leaves clerics, and this doesn't feel generically very cleric-y to me, but it would be a good domain spell for a hunting domain cleric.

 

[Rossbert]

I would just put it on Ranger and be done. It doesn't really feel like a fit for any of the arcane classes at all, and doesn't have much of a place on cleric and feels just like a throwaway add for a Druid.

 

[Gadget]

I'm not sure Spiritual Weapon is a good comparison here, it cannot be "passed on" to someone else. Most of the arrow/weapon enhancing spells that aren't instantaneous are concentration, as are almost all of the summoning spells. I might be tempted to simplify it such that the blood hawk attacks the chosen target and follows it until the spell ends. If the target dies before the spell ends it will just hover over the target and attack anything that attacks it. Nix all the verbiage about obeying commands and all that.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I'm not sure Spiritual Weapon is a good comparison here, it cannot be "passed on" to someone else. Most of the arrow/weapon enhancing spells that aren't instantaneous are concentration, as are almost all of the summoning spells. I might be tempted to simplify it such that the blood hawk attacks the chosen target and follows it until the spell ends. If the target dies before the spell ends it will just hover over the target and attack anything that attacks it. Nix all the verbiage about obeying commands and all that.

That would be a good rule for pretty much all summoning (except find familiar and planar ally): as part of the summoning, you assign the summoned critter a task which it will attempt to fulfill in the most straightforward way possible (things with higher intelligence could handle more complicated instructions). If it completes the task before the time is up, it reports back to you for another instruction until the time is up, you dismiss it, or you lose concentration. It seems like that would speed up combat (no need to order the summoned monster every round and it makes predicting what the summoned monster will do easier for the other players).
I think that would solve about half (or maybe a little more) of the "summoning problem" (and free up some space for some more interesting summoning).

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Sorry duplicate post.

 

[epithet]

... I might be tempted to simplify it such that the blood hawk attacks the chosen target and follows it until the spell ends. If the target dies before the spell ends it will just hover over the target and attack anything that attacks it. Nix all the verbiage about obeying commands and all that.

Where's the fun in that? If there's just a blood hawk going after the hobgoblin chieftain, then I (as DM) have to deal with it (realistically, just adding average damage every round.) My way, a player gets to roll an attack and damage once a round on the hawk's turn, and gets to shout new targets to it if she wants to. Meanwhile, the caster can do whatever else--it's not his bird any more.

A blood hawk is not a powerful thing. It gets one attack and minor damage, and does not (in my opinion) justify concentration. If the spell required concentration my party would use it once (from the scroll) and never consider learning it. If I were to make it a concentration spell, the hawk would need to be able to do a lot more stuff.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Put it on the wizard and ranger lists, based on the logic that rangers used to cast wizard spells, and it makes thematic sense.

Don't make it concentration. The spell is tanking your damage with the initial arrow in exchange for a tiny amount of ongoing damage. As a concentration spell it would be a waste of space. Comparisons with spiritual weapon are ideal: the 'benefit' of passing off the arrow is outweighed by the drawbacks of the spell, and as a general rule, clerics shouldn't be out damaging wizards spell for spell. If anything, the spell is far too weak in comparison unless you have seriously special magical ammunition (it has a poor attack roll, weak damage and can be killed).

If I were you I would remove the reaction verbiage. Just have the hawk act immediately to simplify things and continue to act on the turn of the shooter in later rounds. I would also allow the initial arrow to strike as normal (if that's the intent, make it clearer).

Heck, with how weak the spell is, I might drop it down to level 1.