School of Many Orbs

Most schools teach their practicers a specific tradition or form of magic, but the School of Many Orbs instead teaches how to create and control mystical Orbs that provide great utility and enhance the effects of their magic. Wizards of Many Orbs are often versatile magic users, not limiting themselves to any Schools of Magic and instead using the advantages that their Orbs grant to cast a plethora of different spells.

Magic Orbs

At 2nd level you can create three magical Orbs. These Orbs are spherical and made of glass. Choose one of the eight Schools of Magic (Conjuration, Necromancy, Evocation, Abjuration, Transmutation, Divination, Enchantment, Illusion) to imbue within each of your Orbs. You can choose a color, letter, symbol, etc. that is visible inside these Orbs to represent the chosen Schools of Magic. Unless you've moved them to a different location, or stashed them in a container, your Orbs always passively hover around you.

When you finish a long rest, you can spend another 30 minutes to replace the School of Magic within one Orb with another one. You must finish another long rest to do this again. The Orbs are not indestructible, but can generally only be broken by powerful spells or heavy blunt force, though you cannot use them to block attacks or projectiles. Orbs have 12 AC. If an Orb is broken, you must spend 2 hours after finishing a long rest and expend one spell slot of the highest level that is available to you (up to 5th) to create a new one. You cannot create or control more than three Orbs at a time.

Whenever you cast a spell from a School of Magic that is imbued within one of your Orbs, you can use that Orb as the source of this spell. If you cast a spell that deals damage through an Orb, add 1d4 to the total damage dealt. The Orbs even work as a spellcasting focus for applicable spells.

You can use a bonus action to move one Orb up to 30 feet. They do not grant you vision, you can't move them behind cover that you can't see, and you can't cast spells through Orbs that you do not see. You can't move an Orb further than 30 feet away from yourself; if you move, all Orbs will follow to stay within 30 feet of you.

You gain an additional Orb at 10th level.

Empowered Orbs

Starting at 6th level, your Orbs greatly increase in power. Whenever you cast a spell through an Orb it gains a few enhanced effects:

• The 1d4 damage bonus from Magic Orbs also gains your Intelligence modifier (minimum +1) to the total damage dealt.
• Add 1d4 to the spell attack roll.
• If it requires a saving throw to be made, add 1d4 to your spell save DC.
• If the spell requires concentration, gain advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration.

Greater Orb Control

Beginning at 10th level, whenever you use a bonus action to move an Orb, you can instead move all Orbs at the same time and up to 60 feet, also increases the distance your Orbs can be from you to 60 feet.

You can now choose to see and hear through your Orbs in a 15 feet radius around them, with darkvision. This allows you to move your Orbs to places you can't normally see, and cast spells through them.

When casting a spell through an Orb, you can now ignore the Somatic component of that spell.

Additionally, spells cast through an Orb gain a unique effect based on its School of Magic:

• Conjuration: if anything you create has a duration, it is doubled.
• Necromancy: whenever you deal damage, heal yourself for 1/4th of the damage dealt.
• Evocation: when rolling damage, treat any rolls below half as being half (e.g. a roll of 2 on a d8 is treated as a 4, a 5 on a d12 is treated as a 6).
• Abjuration: when a friendly creature within 15 feet of this Orb takes damage, you can use your reaction to cast a spell on that friendly creature with a cast time of one action or bonus action before the damage takes place.
• Transmutation: the duration of any effect is doubled.
• Divination: halve the required GP cost of any material components.
• Enchantment: if a target needs to make a saving throw, they have disadvantage on it.
• Illusion: if someone is performing a skill check to discern whether the effect of your spell is real or not, they have disadvantage.

Masterful Orbs

Starting at 14th level, your concentration on a spell cast through an Orb cannot be broken by damaging you, instead you must make an Intelligence saving throw to maintain concentration if that Orb is hit with an attack, your concentration will still end upon being incapacitated. Additionally you can concentrate on more than one spell at the same time if they are cast through different Orbs.

After finishing a long rest, you can now change the School of Magic imbued in any number of Orbs, doing so takes 10 minutes for each Orb.

Your Orbs gain special abilities, again based on its School of Magic:

• Conjuration: this Orb can grow magical arms, making it able to perform simple tasks such as carry objects up to 5 kg, flip through a book, etc. Lasts up to 1 hour and usable again after a long rest.
• Necromancy: this Orb gains three charges. You can use a bonus action to spend one of these charges, sending a wave of life draining energy 15 feet around the Orb. All creatures hit have their speed halved until the end of their next turn, constructs and undead are unaffected, any vegetation withers and dies instantly. If you cast a spell through this Orb on the same turn, it's damage is increased by 1d4 for each affected creature. Regain all charges after finishing a long rest.
• Evocation: you can turn this Orb into a deadly trap. You can cast and store an Evocation spell that deals damage into the Orb, then it becomes invisible and lays down. It bursts violently and unleashes the spell stored inside when any creature comes within 5 feet of it. If the affected creatures need to make a Dexterity or Constitution saving throw, they automatically fail. You can designate any creatures to not trigger the Orb and it can only be disarmed by you or dispelling the stored spell, all designated creatures can see the Orb. The Orb breaks if detonated. Usable again after a long rest.
• Abjuration: this Orb gains a pool of hit points equal to your half your Wizard level + your Intelligence modifier. You can restore hit points from this pool to any creature who touches the Orb, doing so requires a bonus action or reaction from the creature who touches it. The pool refreshes when you finish a long rest.
• Transmutation: using a bonus action to touch a weapon with this Orb grants it a bonus to attack and damage rolls equal to half your Intelligence modifier (minimum +1) for 1 minute, attacks with this weapon count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistances. Usable again after a long rest.
• Divination: you can use a bonus action to grant this Orb true vision for 1 minute. Usable again after a long rest.
• Enchantment: if a friendly creature within 15 feet of this Orb is hit with a weapon attack, you can use your reaction to create hallucinations in the attackers mind, causing the attack to miss and the attacker to take the damage they would've dealt as psychic damage. Usable again after a long rest.
• Illusion: using a bonus action, this Orb can create 9 illusory copies of it that shine in various bright colors, they then start spinning rapidly in a circle with a 15 feet diameter. Any creature that can see has disadvantage on attack rolls made inside the circle or targeting a creature inside the circle. This can be activated in conjunction with moving the Orb, without needing a separate bonus action. Lasts for 1 minute or until you choose to end it. This effect can be stopped early if a creature hits it with an attack and then rolls a 1 on a d10 to determine whether they hit the real one. Usable again after a short or long rest.