So I've been throwing around ideas lately about what kind of spells I'd make for my warlock subclass that I'll eventually be making once the functionality comes to D&D Beyond, and I wanted to share. Note that I haven't searched the homebrew spells before posting any of these, so if there is another spell that already exists that is similar to mine, please let me know and I can check on it for myself. Feedback would be appreciated, but don't be shy to add your own homebrew spells to keep the thread going!
Cantrips
- Shadestep: As a bonus action, you can expend a spell slot to teleport up to 30ft. At 5th level this increases to 60ft, and at 11th level in increases to 120 ft.
- Grasping Dark: You cause spikes to erupt from the target's shadow, dealing 1d8 necrotic damage on a hit. If the target is in dim light or darkness, it takes addition necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier.
- Umbral strike: As part of the action used to cast this spell, you must make a melee attack with a weapon against one creature within the spell’s range, otherwise the spell fails. On a hit, the target suffers the attack’s normal effects and has disadvantage on attacks rolls made against you until the end of your next turn.
Level 1 spells
- Dark whispers: (V,S,M) Invade the target's mind and fill it with distress. On a hit the target takes 2d8 psychic damage and is frightened of you. It cannot willingly move toward you until it saves against this effect. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 1st.
- Grave darts: (V,S) Conjure and fling a volley of shadowy darts from a free hand. Each dart deals 1d6 necrotic damage as it embeds into its target. At the start of your next turn, the darts explode, dealing an additional 2d6 necrotic damage to the target. A creature effected by this spell can make a strength saving throw to remove the dart before it explodes. You can target a number of creatures equal to your Dexterity modifier when casting this spell.
Level 2 spells
- Tether (V,S,M) Command the very shadows of your enemies to attack them. Each target within 30 feet from you must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 3d8 necrotic damage and is grappled. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage its speed is reduced by half until the end of your next turn.
So I've been throwing around ideas lately about what kind of spells I'd make for my warlock subclass that I'll eventually be making once the functionality comes to D&D Beyond, and I wanted to share. Note that I haven't searched the homebrew spells before posting any of these, so if there is another spell that already exists that is similar to mine, please let me know and I can check on it for myself. Feedback would be appreciated, but don't be shy to add your own homebrew spells to keep the thread going!
Cantrips
- Shadestep: As a bonus action, you can expend a spell slot to teleport up to 30ft. At 5th level this increases to 60ft, and at 11th level in increases to 120 ft.
Isn't that just a better misty step for any non-warlock that somehow manages to learn it? If I were you, I'd just make misty step scale with slot level.
- Grasping Dark: You cause spikes to erupt from the target's shadow, dealing 1d8 necrotic damage on a hit. If the target is in dim light or darkness, it takes addition necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier.
It gets an extra d8 at 5th, 11th, and 17th levels, right? Something tells me dim light/darkness is easy enough to come by that it should only use a d6. Oh, and what kind of attack it it?
- Umbral strike: As part of the action used to cast this spell, you must make a melee attack with a weapon against one creature within the spell’s range, otherwise the spell fails. On a hit, the target suffers the attack’s normal effects and has disadvantage on attacks rolls made against you until the end of your next turn.
Level 1 spells
- Dark whispers: (V,S,M) Invade the target's mind and fill it with distress. On a hit the target takes 2d8 psychic damage and is frightened of you. It cannot willingly move toward you until it saves against this effect. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 1st.
- Grave darts: (V,S) Conjure and fling a volley of shadowy darts from a free hand. Each dart deals 1d6 necrotic damage as it embeds into its target. At the start of your next turn, the darts explode, dealing an additional 2d6 necrotic damage to the target. A creature effected by this spell can make a strength saving throw to remove the dart before it explodes. You can target a number of creatures equal to your Dexterity modifier when casting this spell.
If you have 16 Dex (entirely reasonable at 1st level for a human, drow, half-elf, lightfoot halfling, or tabaxi), isn't that just magic missile with the potential to do much more damage? On the other hand, what if you have 11 or less Dex?
Level 2 spells
- Tether (V,S,M) Command the very shadows of your enemies to attack them. Each target within 30 feet from you must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 3d8 necrotic damage and is grappled. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage its speed is reduced by half until the end of your next turn.
Looks just a bit too good for a 2nd-level spell, but I'm not sure. It should at least mention that attempts to escape the grapple are made against [something other than your Athletics] and that a creature immune to being grappled doesn't have its speed halved if it saves. And it should be concentration.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
So I've been throwing around ideas lately about what kind of spells I'd make for my warlock subclass that I'll eventually be making once the functionality comes to D&D Beyond, and I wanted to share. Note that I haven't searched the homebrew spells before posting any of these, so if there is another spell that already exists that is similar to mine, please let me know and I can check on it for myself. Feedback would be appreciated, but don't be shy to add your own homebrew spells to keep the thread going!
Cantrips
- Shadestep: As a bonus action, you can expend a spell slot to teleport up to 30ft. At 5th level this increases to 60ft, and at 11th level in increases to 120 ft.
Isn't that just a better misty step for any non-warlock that somehow manages to learn it? If I were you, I'd just make misty step scale with slot level.
No reason for it to be a cantrip if it uses a spell slot anyway, so yeah. I could just take misty step and homebrew it to be shadow instead of mist.
- Grasping Dark: You cause spikes to erupt from the target's shadow, dealing 1d8 necrotic damage on a hit. If the target is in dim light or darkness, it takes addition necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier.
It gets an extra d8 at 5th, 11th, and 17th levels, right? Something tells me dim light/darkness is easy enough to come by that it should only use a d6. Oh, and what kind of attack it it?
This was my attempt to make something like Eldritch Blast but necrotic instead of force. I was originally thinking to have it deal an extra d8 for dim light or darkness but (as you asked) it would deal extra damage at those intervals. eldritch blast deals 1d10 and with an invocation adds your charisma to it. At 5th, 11th, and 17th levels it gets extra beams, all of which benefit from charisma, so at 5th level you have a possible 2d10 + 8 (assuming 18 charisma) whereas Grasping Dark deals 2d8 + 4 with the same stats, but without an invocation and the added restriction to dim light or darkness. Taking crits into consideration single attacks are stronger, but more attacks yield crit fishing.
- Umbral strike: As part of the action used to cast this spell, you must make a melee attack with a weapon against one creature within the spell’s range, otherwise the spell fails. On a hit, the target suffers the attack’s normal effects and has disadvantage on attacks rolls made against you until the end of your next turn.
Level 1 spells
- Dark whispers: (V,S,M) Invade the target's mind and fill it with distress. On a hit the target takes 2d8 psychic damage and is frightened of you. It cannot willingly move toward you until it saves against this effect. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 1st.
- Grave darts: (V,S) Conjure and fling a volley of shadowy darts from a free hand. Each dart deals 1d6 necrotic damage as it embeds into its target. At the start of your next turn, the darts explode, dealing an additional 2d6 necrotic damage to the target. A creature effected by this spell can make a strength saving throw to remove the dart before it explodes. You can target a number of creatures equal to your Dexterity modifier when casting this spell.
If you have 16 Dex (entirely reasonable at 1st level for a human, drow, half-elf, lightfoot halfling, or tabaxi), isn't that just magic missile with the potential to do much more damage? On the other hand, what if you have 11 or less Dex?
I wasn't comparing it to Magic Missile when I thought of it since magic missile just hits, each of these is an attack like Eldritch Blast would be, but as a 1st level spell I figured it would need to do more damage. Perhaps reduce the explosion damage to 1d6 so it can do a total of 2d6 damage to each creature? I put in the dexterity option because I felt like they were being thrown like darts, and it made sense having more control in that regard. Perhaps instead they could actually be considered darts for the attack, so each would require a dexterity based attack roll instead, and use charisma for how many creatures you can target?
Level 2 spells
- Tether (V,S,M) Command the very shadows of your enemies to attack them. Each target within 30 feet from you must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 3d8 necrotic damage and is grappled. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage its speed is reduced by half until the end of your next turn.
Looks just a bit too good for a 2nd-level spell, but I'm not sure. It should at least mention that attempts to escape the grapple are made against [something other than your Athletics] and that a creature immune to being grappled doesn't have its speed halved if it saves. And it should be concentration.
The second level spells I was looking at tend to do upwards to 3d8 damage, such as Mind Spike and Shatter, but the number of creatures you can target with this makes sense to lower the damage. I was considering having them same against the grapple via my spell save itself, and they choose either athletics or acrobatics. Maybe change it from every creature to up to three, reduce the damage to 2d8?
Shadestep - A better version of Misty Step in every way and, as you say, not a cantrip if it consumes a spellslot. I support the change to just reskin Misty Step, however, I feel the Shadestep concept could still be usable if modified. I suggest taking some inspiration from Way of Shadow Monk's Shadowstep. Perhaps a level 1 version of Misty Step - range of 20 feet, and only usable if you move into dim light/darkness.
Grave Darts - This seems a bit too complex, especially for a first level spell. Guaranteed 1d6 damage on the first turn? A possible 2d6 on another turn that must be remembered across multiple creatures. A saving throw that's unspecified on when it takes place (is it an action, reaction, or part of the spell to remove them? The description suggests some kind of action), and also means all monsters without hands have to eat the full damage (based on the description text again).
Tether - Three major issues jump out at me.
1) No spells inflict grappled on a target, as several parts of the grappled condition revolve around a creature or effect grappling someone - this causes all sorts of problems, notably the DC to break out of the grapple/make the save (it's too easy if using athletics/acrobatics), along with the condition's effect only actually causing them to have zero speed, which is a much easier way to phrase it. The condition most spells utilize is restrained, which also happens to be more powerful and that should be kept in mind when balancing it.
2) A guaranteed speed reduction feels too strong, even for a single target spell. As an area effect, you are guaranteeing every creature in 30 feet has half speed. That's too much in my eyes. Especially as a second level spell.
3) The sheer damage is too much for a spell with a radius this big. The damage is equal to Shatter, but the area is three times as big, and it grapples/lowers their speed. Mind Spike is single target.
tl;dr, let the nerf bat loose.
I like the idea and themes for these spell, as well as their names. They just need a little bit of toning down in my eyes.
- Grave darts: (V,S) Conjure and fling a volley of shadowy darts from a free hand. Each dart deals 1d6 necrotic damage as it embeds into its target. At the start of your next turn, the darts explode, dealing an additional 2d6 necrotic damage to the target. A creature effected by this spell can make a strength saving throw to remove the dart before it explodes. You can target a number of creatures equal to your Dexterity modifier when casting this spell.
If you have 16 Dex (entirely reasonable at 1st level for a human, drow, half-elf, lightfoot halfling, or tabaxi), isn't that just magic missile with the potential to do much more damage? On the other hand, what if you have 11 or less Dex?
I wasn't comparing it to Magic Missile when I thought of it since magic missile just hits, each of these is an attack like Eldritch Blast would be, but as a 1st level spell I figured it would need to do more damage. Perhaps reduce the explosion damage to 1d6 so it can do a total of 2d6 damage to each creature? I put in the dexterity option because I felt like they were being thrown like darts, and it made sense having more control in that regard. Perhaps instead they could actually be considered darts for the attack, so each would require a dexterity based attack roll instead, and use charisma for how many creatures you can target?
It doesn't say anything about an attack roll or saving throw for the darts, so one has to assume that they automatically hit.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
I'm going to reword and revise some of these spells to better across get what ideas I had when coming up with them, because I feel like my wording and especially how I left out how the attacks are made make them too powerful. Let's try these.
Shadestep (V,S,M): Reworked to be a 2nd level spell, combining Shadestep and Umbral strike. Choose a creature you can see within 30 feet of you. You teleport to within 5 feet of it and make a melee basic attack against it. On a hit, the target suffers the attack’s normal effects as well as an additional 1d8 necrotic damage. After the attack is resolved, you immediately return to the place you were when you cast the spell.
Grave Darts (V,S, Concentration): Choose up to three creatures you can see within 60 feet of you. Make a ranged spell attack against each target. On a hit, the target takes 1d6 necrotic damage and the dart pierces into them. on each of your turns for the duration, you can use your action to deal 1d6 necrotic damage to the target automatically. During its turn, a target effected by this spell must make a constitution saving throw. If it succeeds, the effect ends. (If this still seems strong the damage can either be lowered to 1d4 or the spell can lose targets. After looking at some spells this seems a lot like witch bolt, just multi-target and lower damage die.)
Tether (V,S, Concentration) Increased to a 3rd level spell. Range 60ft. You summon a inky tendril from the target's shadow to bind them. Choose a humanoid that you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 2d6 necrotic damage and are Restrained. The target can make a strength saving throw on each of its turns to end this effect. On a successful save, the target takes half damage and isn't Restrained.
hello i am a new DM an i am running a campaign using the Tal'Dorei campaign guide.
question...?
I had a alternate bestow curse spell that i would like an opinion on but i need to tweek it a bit more.Its called Cursed Heart and it would make the person casting the spell able to control the person that the spell was cast upon. But it would not be the person themselves that the spell is cast upon but that persons heart. After being removed from the body the heart, either through evil commandments from the wielder over a course of 7 days or a ritual the takes 7 days to perform, the person would be changed. Changed into a shadow of themselves. resistant to physical attack with non-magical weapons. only vulnerability would be a holy-divine magic spell or magic weapon blessed by the Gods or a Cleric as a form of enchantment.
This would be a spell cast after removing the heart from the body with an attack I created called the Heart Ripper this action would be done while the person is at 0 hit points and unconscious. But a death saving throw would negate the affect of the removal. Although once the person saves they would still have to fight of the attacker.
Any thoughts on how to right this spell and the affect?
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So I've been throwing around ideas lately about what kind of spells I'd make for my warlock subclass that I'll eventually be making once the functionality comes to D&D Beyond, and I wanted to share. Note that I haven't searched the homebrew spells before posting any of these, so if there is another spell that already exists that is similar to mine, please let me know and I can check on it for myself. Feedback would be appreciated, but don't be shy to add your own homebrew spells to keep the thread going!
Cantrips
- Shadestep: As a bonus action, you can expend a spell slot to teleport up to 30ft. At 5th level this increases to 60ft, and at 11th level in increases to 120 ft.
- Grasping Dark: You cause spikes to erupt from the target's shadow, dealing 1d8 necrotic damage on a hit. If the target is in dim light or darkness, it takes addition necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier.
- Umbral strike: As part of the action used to cast this spell, you must make a melee attack with a weapon against one creature within the spell’s range, otherwise the spell fails. On a hit, the target suffers the attack’s normal effects and has disadvantage on attacks rolls made against you until the end of your next turn.
Level 1 spells
- Dark whispers: (V,S,M) Invade the target's mind and fill it with distress. On a hit the target takes 2d8 psychic damage and is frightened of you. It cannot willingly move toward you until it saves against this effect. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 1st.
- Grave darts: (V,S) Conjure and fling a volley of shadowy darts from a free hand. Each dart deals 1d6 necrotic damage as it embeds into its target. At the start of your next turn, the darts explode, dealing an additional 2d6 necrotic damage to the target. A creature effected by this spell can make a strength saving throw to remove the dart before it explodes. You can target a number of creatures equal to your Dexterity modifier when casting this spell.
Level 2 spells
- Tether (V,S,M) Command the very shadows of your enemies to attack them. Each target within 30 feet from you must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 3d8 necrotic damage and is grappled. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage its speed is reduced by half until the end of your next turn.
Isn't that just a better misty step for any non-warlock that somehow manages to learn it? If I were you, I'd just make misty step scale with slot level.
It gets an extra d8 at 5th, 11th, and 17th levels, right? Something tells me dim light/darkness is easy enough to come by that it should only use a d6. Oh, and what kind of attack it it?
Cause fear.
If you have 16 Dex (entirely reasonable at 1st level for a human, drow, half-elf, lightfoot halfling, or tabaxi), isn't that just magic missile with the potential to do much more damage? On the other hand, what if you have 11 or less Dex?
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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No reason for it to be a cantrip if it uses a spell slot anyway, so yeah. I could just take misty step and homebrew it to be shadow instead of mist.
This was my attempt to make something like Eldritch Blast but necrotic instead of force. I was originally thinking to have it deal an extra d8 for dim light or darkness but (as you asked) it would deal extra damage at those intervals. eldritch blast deals 1d10 and with an invocation adds your charisma to it. At 5th, 11th, and 17th levels it gets extra beams, all of which benefit from charisma, so at 5th level you have a possible 2d10 + 8 (assuming 18 charisma) whereas Grasping Dark deals 2d8 + 4 with the same stats, but without an invocation and the added restriction to dim light or darkness. Taking crits into consideration single attacks are stronger, but more attacks yield crit fishing.
Point taken.
I wasn't comparing it to Magic Missile when I thought of it since magic missile just hits, each of these is an attack like Eldritch Blast would be, but as a 1st level spell I figured it would need to do more damage. Perhaps reduce the explosion damage to 1d6 so it can do a total of 2d6 damage to each creature? I put in the dexterity option because I felt like they were being thrown like darts, and it made sense having more control in that regard. Perhaps instead they could actually be considered darts for the attack, so each would require a dexterity based attack roll instead, and use charisma for how many creatures you can target?
Shadestep - A better version of Misty Step in every way and, as you say, not a cantrip if it consumes a spellslot. I support the change to just reskin Misty Step, however, I feel the Shadestep concept could still be usable if modified. I suggest taking some inspiration from Way of Shadow Monk's Shadowstep. Perhaps a level 1 version of Misty Step - range of 20 feet, and only usable if you move into dim light/darkness.
Grave Darts - This seems a bit too complex, especially for a first level spell. Guaranteed 1d6 damage on the first turn? A possible 2d6 on another turn that must be remembered across multiple creatures. A saving throw that's unspecified on when it takes place (is it an action, reaction, or part of the spell to remove them? The description suggests some kind of action), and also means all monsters without hands have to eat the full damage (based on the description text again).
Tether - Three major issues jump out at me.
1) No spells inflict grappled on a target, as several parts of the grappled condition revolve around a creature or effect grappling someone - this causes all sorts of problems, notably the DC to break out of the grapple/make the save (it's too easy if using athletics/acrobatics), along with the condition's effect only actually causing them to have zero speed, which is a much easier way to phrase it. The condition most spells utilize is restrained, which also happens to be more powerful and that should be kept in mind when balancing it.
2) A guaranteed speed reduction feels too strong, even for a single target spell. As an area effect, you are guaranteeing every creature in 30 feet has half speed. That's too much in my eyes. Especially as a second level spell.
3) The sheer damage is too much for a spell with a radius this big. The damage is equal to Shatter, but the area is three times as big, and it grapples/lowers their speed. Mind Spike is single target.
tl;dr, let the nerf bat loose.
I like the idea and themes for these spell, as well as their names. They just need a little bit of toning down in my eyes.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
I'm going to reword and revise some of these spells to better across get what ideas I had when coming up with them, because I feel like my wording and especially how I left out how the attacks are made make them too powerful. Let's try these.
Shadestep (V,S,M): Reworked to be a 2nd level spell, combining Shadestep and Umbral strike. Choose a creature you can see within 30 feet of you. You teleport to within 5 feet of it and make a melee basic attack against it. On a hit, the target suffers the attack’s normal effects as well as an additional 1d8 necrotic damage. After the attack is resolved, you immediately return to the place you were when you cast the spell.
Grave Darts (V,S, Concentration): Choose up to three creatures you can see within 60 feet of you. Make a ranged spell attack against each target. On a hit, the target takes 1d6 necrotic damage and the dart pierces into them. on each of your turns for the duration, you can use your action to deal 1d6 necrotic damage to the target automatically. During its turn, a target effected by this spell must make a constitution saving throw. If it succeeds, the effect ends. (If this still seems strong the damage can either be lowered to 1d4 or the spell can lose targets. After looking at some spells this seems a lot like witch bolt, just multi-target and lower damage die.)
Tether (V,S, Concentration) Increased to a 3rd level spell. Range 60ft. You summon a inky tendril from the target's shadow to bind them. Choose a humanoid that you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 2d6 necrotic damage and are Restrained. The target can make a strength saving throw on each of its turns to end this effect. On a successful save, the target takes half damage and isn't Restrained.
hello i am a new DM an i am running a campaign using the Tal'Dorei campaign guide.
question...?
I had a alternate bestow curse spell that i would like an opinion on but i need to tweek it a bit more.Its called Cursed Heart and it would make the person casting the spell able to control the person that the spell was cast upon. But it would not be the person themselves that the spell is cast upon but that persons heart. After being removed from the body the heart, either through evil commandments from the wielder over a course of 7 days or a ritual the takes 7 days to perform, the person would be changed. Changed into a shadow of themselves. resistant to physical attack with non-magical weapons. only vulnerability would be a holy-divine magic spell or magic weapon blessed by the Gods or a Cleric as a form of enchantment.
This would be a spell cast after removing the heart from the body with an attack I created called the Heart Ripper this action would be done while the person is at 0 hit points and unconscious. But a death saving throw would negate the affect of the removal. Although once the person saves they would still have to fight of the attacker.
Any thoughts on how to right this spell and the affect?