Hello all was looking for a spell similar to Magic Weapon and [Tooltip Not Found]. Here's my first attempt at something in between. Concerns: Is it balanced? Should it be at Level 2 to start? How would you scale the pushback?
Propulsion
Level: 1st Casting: 1 Bonus Action Range: Touch Components: V, S Duration: 1 Hour C School: Transmutation
You touch a simple, melee weapon or piece of ammunition. Until the spell ends, you choose imbue the weapon with 1d6 of fire or thunder damage. On a hit, the creature must make a Strength saving throw or be pushed 5ft back on a failed save.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, add an additional 1d6 of damage, and the distance is increased to 10ft on a failed save. When you use a spell slot of 5th level or higher, add an additional 3d6, and the distance is increased to 15ft on a failed save.
What classes get access to it? That changes a lot.
Regardless of class, it seems OP. It’s just better Hunter’s Mark, and you don’t need to move it to a different target after you land a kill. 2nd level would be more reasonable, but would still be pretty strong. Currently, it’s about as good as Elemental Weapon, a mediocre 3rd level spell available to Druids, Rangers, Paladins, Hexblades, and Forge Clerics.
Additionally, it slows down play a lot for little benefit. Forcing a save every hit will take a long time on classes that can make a lot of attacks, notably Rangers and Eldritch Knights. You might want to make the knockback 10 or 15 feet, but only once a turn, and not scale the knockback at higher levels.
(There’s a reason that Arcane Weapon never made it to print.) That’s more than a little overtuned, and a little unclear. The lack of clarity is in part due to the fact that the person who cast the spell is not necessarily the person who is wielding the weapon.
Maybe something more like this:
Propulsion
LEVEL
1st
CASTING TIME
1 Bonus Action
RANGE/AREA
Touch
COMPONENTS
V, S
DURATION
Concentration 10 Minutes
SCHOOL
Transmutation
ATTACK/SAVE
None
DAMAGE/EFFECT
Acid (...)
A nonmagical weapon you touch becomes a magic weapon. Choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, or lightning. Until the spell ends, on a hit, the weapon deals an additional 1d4 damage of the chosen type.
In addition, once per turn, a creature hit with the weapon must succeed at a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC or be pushed 10 feet directly back from the attacker.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th through 6th level, the extra damage die increases in size to 1d8. When you use a spell slot of 7th level or higher, the extra damage die increases in size to 1d12.
To be honest, even that’s a bit overtuned. I mean, the next closest spell you can compare it to is Divine Favor. But yeah, Flare76 is right. What classes is this for?
@IamSposta and Flare76, first thanks so much for the input! To answer your question, I'm still working it out, but my initial idea for classes were Artificer and Wizards, as well as Tempest Clerics and Eldritch Knights (maybe Sorcerer). I hadn't thought at all about multi attacks and saves, so the rewording for that is appreciated. I wanted to give the caster the option to buff a front-liner which is why I tried to word it a bit differently, but I see how it reads awkwardly. I feel like maybe upping the level to 2nd and then making the upcasting for the push back and not the damage? So maybe something like this:
Propulsion
Level: 2nd Casting: 1 Bonus Action Range: Touch Components: V, S Duration: 10 Minutes C School: Transmutation
You touch a simple, melee weapon or ranged non magical weapon. Until the spell ends, you choose imbue the weapon with either 1d6 of fire or thunder damage. In addition, once per turn on a hit, the creature must make a Strength saving throw or be pushed 10ft back on a failed save.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the distance is increased to 15ft on a failed save. When you use a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the distance is increased to 20ft on a failed save.
Maybe without scaling the damage it doesn't overshadow things like Hunter's Mark (which IMHO, should be a feature not a spell, but that's a different convo).
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Hello all was looking for a spell similar to Magic Weapon and [Tooltip Not Found].
Here's my first attempt at something in between. Concerns: Is it balanced? Should it be at Level 2 to start? How would you scale the pushback?
Propulsion
Level: 1st
Casting: 1 Bonus Action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 Hour C
School: Transmutation
You touch a simple, melee weapon or piece of ammunition. Until the spell ends, you choose imbue the weapon with 1d6 of fire or thunder damage. On a hit, the creature must make a Strength saving throw or be pushed 5ft back on a failed save.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, add an additional 1d6 of damage, and the distance is increased to 10ft on a failed save. When you use a spell slot of 5th level or higher, add an additional 3d6, and the distance is increased to 15ft on a failed save.
What classes get access to it? That changes a lot.
Regardless of class, it seems OP. It’s just better Hunter’s Mark, and you don’t need to move it to a different target after you land a kill. 2nd level would be more reasonable, but would still be pretty strong. Currently, it’s about as good as Elemental Weapon, a mediocre 3rd level spell available to Druids, Rangers, Paladins, Hexblades, and Forge Clerics.
Additionally, it slows down play a lot for little benefit. Forcing a save every hit will take a long time on classes that can make a lot of attacks, notably Rangers and Eldritch Knights. You might want to make the knockback 10 or 15 feet, but only once a turn, and not scale the knockback at higher levels.
Seems like this could be a cantrip a la booming blade. Attack as part of casting and push on hit.
(There’s a reason that Arcane Weapon never made it to print.) That’s more than a little overtuned, and a little unclear. The lack of clarity is in part due to the fact that the person who cast the spell is not necessarily the person who is wielding the weapon.
Maybe something more like this:
To be honest, even that’s a bit overtuned. I mean, the next closest spell you can compare it to is Divine Favor. But yeah, Flare76 is right. What classes is this for?
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@IamSposta and Flare76, first thanks so much for the input! To answer your question, I'm still working it out, but my initial idea for classes were Artificer and Wizards, as well as Tempest Clerics and Eldritch Knights (maybe Sorcerer). I hadn't thought at all about multi attacks and saves, so the rewording for that is appreciated. I wanted to give the caster the option to buff a front-liner which is why I tried to word it a bit differently, but I see how it reads awkwardly. I feel like maybe upping the level to 2nd and then making the upcasting for the push back and not the damage? So maybe something like this:
Propulsion
Level: 2nd
Casting: 1 Bonus Action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S
Duration: 10 Minutes C
School: Transmutation
You touch a simple, melee weapon or ranged non magical weapon. Until the spell ends, you choose imbue the weapon with either 1d6 of fire or thunder damage.
In addition, once per turn on a hit, the creature must make a Strength saving throw or be pushed 10ft back on a failed save.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the distance is increased to 15ft on a failed save. When you use a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the distance is increased to 20ft on a failed save.
Maybe without scaling the damage it doesn't overshadow things like Hunter's Mark (which IMHO, should be a feature not a spell, but that's a different convo).