loved Thor in Infinity War so I created a new oath for the paladin. At 7th level he gets an aura which gives you and allies resistance to lightning damage and if you already have resistance to lightning damage it gives you (only you, not your allies) immunity to lightning damage. I'm not sure if that is to strong, since a Dragonborn Paladin could get lightning immunity this way at level 7. What do you think? I've created a new spell for paladin level 13 which functions as fire shield, but gives you lightning resistance. I thought to give the aura feature the immunity, because casting first a spell to get lightning resistance at level 13 to get immunity through the aura feature doesn't seem to strong to me, but I don't know, if other sources like the dragonborn could break this feature. How many monsters are there approximately, that deal lightning damage?
Here is the subclass:
Oath Spells
You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed in the Oath of the Storm Spells table. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how oath spells work.
When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how Channel Divinity works.
Weapon of the Storm. As an action, you can imbue one weapon that you are holding with the power of the storm, using your Channel Divinity. For 1 minute, your weapon deals lightning damage instead of its normal damage type and it becomes magical, if it is not already magical.
You can end this effect on your turn as part of any other action. If you are no longer holding or carrying this weapon, or if you fall unconscious, this effect ends.
Thunderous Guard. When a creature within 5 feet of you hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to push the creature 15 feet away from you.
Aura of the Storm
Starting at 7th level, the air around you is constantly filled with electricity. You and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you have resistance to lightning damage.
If you already have damage resistance to lightning from another source, you gain immunity to lightning damage.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Vengeance of the Storm
Starting at 15th level, whenever a hostile creature inside your aura hits you with an attack, that creature takes lightning damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) if you’re not incapacitated.
Storms Fury
At 20th level, as a bonus action you become an avatar of the storm, gaining the following benefits for 1 minute:
While you are wielding a weapon of the storm from your Channel Divinity feature, that weapon has the thrown property with a normal range of 30 feet and a long range of 60 feet. Immediately after the attack, the weapon flies back to your hand.
Lightning damage dealt by you ignores resistance or immunity to lightning damage.
Whenever a creature hits you with an attack, lightning arcs from you to hit that creature. It takes lightning damage equal to half the damage you take from the attack.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
New Spell: Lightning Shield
Level
4th
Casting Time
1 Action
Range/Area
Self
Components
V, S, M *
Duration
10 Minutes
School
Evocation
Attack/Save
None
Damage/Effect
Lightning
Thunderbolts encompasses your body for the duration. You can end the spell early by using an action to dismiss it.
The thunderbolts provide you with an electric shield that grants you resistance to lightning damage.
In addition, whenever a creature within 5 feet of you hits you with a melee attack, the thunderbolts erupts from your shield and the attacker takes 2d8 lightning damage.
* - (a twig from a tree that has been struck by lightning)
i feel like lightning damage is hard to come by how about you also give them resistance to thunder damage and immunity to any thunder or lightning damage you create as they are both uncommon types of damage so you can curve the lightning around your allies so you can keep on fighting without worrying about your destructive power overwhelming not just your enemies but also allies. as well as competing with the op oath of the ancients resistance to all spells.
I was thinking of removing the immunity part completely and add something like the dragon masks get you. If you damage a creature inside your aura with lightning damage, this creature can't make reaction until its next turn. Maybe restrict this to only one creature at a time instead of all creatures that take lightning damage in your aura.
I really like the idea and the flavor of the subclass!
That being said, I feel the Channel Divinity options are a little bit underpowered. While Thunderous Guard is situational but remains a valid option basically all the way up to level 20, I think Weapon of the Storm loses its appeal as soon as a magic weapon is obtained. Dealing Lightning damage can indeed be useful, at times, but why would I "waste" channel divinity for that if I already have a magical weapon?
Maybe you could think of having it grant an additional +1 to Attacks and Damage made with your weapon, and the weapon damage becomes Lightning and Thunder (both, just for kicks since it makes effectively little difference I think), all this lasting one minute. This way the bonus remains valid and useful all the way up to level 20. Should you want to bring it up a further notch, you could have it also add some damage to it, like +1d6 (or [half proficiency]d6 if you want to make it scaling a bit) and that is the portion of the damage that is Lightning and Thunder. In this case, though, I'd probably limit the duration to CHA modifier turns, because otherwise the whole thing would be quite OP for a short-rest-reset feature.
Regarding the aura, I agree that the immunity to Lightning (adding also Thunder as Echohero suggests) should not be a huge problem unless the campaign/adventure takes place in the middle of the plane of air. Should you still want to scrap the immunity, though, I think your idea is good, but maybe it's best not to limit it to one creature, but rather having any enemy hit by you within the aura make a CON saving throw when they would take their Reaction or try to move. Success, they take their reaction and move as normal; Fail, they are electrocuted by residual energy (no damage, I'd say) and cannot use their Reaction and their speed is halved for the rest of their turn. Bigger creatures would most probably succeed this, but is still a good way to keep control on smaller/faster ones.
Thanks for your feedback. How exactly would it work if you deal lightning and thunder damage? Would you split this in some way, say 1D6 additional lightning and 1D6 additional thunder oder simply say that the damage is lightning AND thunder? I think there isn't anything currently in the game that deals more than one damage type, so I'm not sure how this would work against resistances if you deal for example 10 lightning and thunder damage and a creature has resistance to only one type. But maybe I don't get your point :).
Scaling the Weapon of the Storm feature is a good idea. My first thought was, that replacing the weapons damage is enough, but I could see to instead add lightning and/or thunder damage to the weapon.
Regarding the aura: I see two ways of doing this (while scraping the immunity):
1st:
Aura of the Storm
Starting at 7th level, the air around you is constantly filled with electricity. You and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you have resistance to lightning damage.
Additionally, if you deal lightning damage to a creature within your aura, it can’t take reactions until its next turn.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
2nd:
Aura of the Storm
Starting at 7th level, the air around you is constantly filled with electricity. You and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you have resistance to lightning damage.
Whenever a hostile creature in your aura tries to move or to take a reaction it has to make a Constitution Saving Throw. On a success, it may move or take the reaction as normal; On a failure, it can't take the reaction and it movement speed is halved for the rest of it's turn.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
For the first one you need to spend your ressources and deal lightning damage. That might be another reason to use the Weapon of the Storm. The second one makes your aura also some kind of battle field control aura, since creatures are at a disadvantage when they are in your aura. I like both ideas pretty much and can't say which one I might prefer. Like I said, the first one gives you another reason to use the Weapon of the Storm, which is nice to make it more powerful.
I didn't think of possible resistance and of not there being anything doing dual damage currently, to be honest :P I'd say you could do it as in the Paladin chooses each turn the feature is active what type to damage to deal, just to give a bit more versatility.
For the aura, I see your point on giving an additional reason to use Weapon of the Storm, and I really like the idea. In my opinion the two versions could be the merged, taking the movement-impairing effect on failed save when they try to move out of the second one, and the automatic "no reaction" one on Lightning/Thunder damage (I'd allow either to work, seems appropriate and ties into Weapon of the Storm choice of damage) from the first one. This way you have an active and a passive effect, and the wider controlling part of the feature remains useful even when Weapon of the Storm is not active.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
- Weapon of the Storm now deals additional lightning or thunder damage and gets +1 to attack and damage - Aura of the Storm has the 1st and 2nd option from above combined and gives lightning and thunder resistance - Storm's Fury now ignores also thunder resistance and immunity
Last thing to fix probably (?): Make the last point of Storm's Fury to ocure on weapon attacks and not attacks in general. Otherwise it would work against spells like finger of death and other high damage spells, which might be to good.
Here it is:
Oath Spells
You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed in the Oath of the Storm Spells table. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how oath spells work.
When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how Channel Divinity works.
Weapon of the Storm. As an action, you can imbue one weapon that you are holding with the power of the storm, using your Channel Divinity. For 1 minute, your weapon deals an additional 1d6 lightning damage or thunder damage (of your choice each time you hit) and it becomes magical, if it is not already magical. In addition, the weapon gains a +1 bonus to its attack and damage rolls, unless it is a magic weapon that already has a bonus to those rolls.
You can end this effect on your turn as part of any other action. If you are no longer holding or carrying this weapon, or if you fall unconscious, this effect ends.
Thunderous Guard. When a creature within 5 feet of you hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to push the creature 15 feet away from you.
Aura of the Storm
Starting at 7th level, the air around you is constantly filled with electricity. You and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you have resistance to lightning damage and thunder damage.
Whenever a hostile creature inside your aura tries to move, it might get electrocuted by the energy that surrounds you. The creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or it movement speed is halved for the rest of its turn. The DC of the Constitution save throw equals your paladin spell save DC. Additionally, if you deal lightning damage or thunder damage to a creature within your aura, it can’t take reactions until its next turn.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Vengeance of the Storm
Starting at 15th level, whenever a hostile creature inside your aura hits you with an attack, that creature takes lightning damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) if you’re not incapacitated.
Storm's Fury
At 20th level, as a bonus action you become an avatar of the storm, gaining the following benefits for 1 minute:
While you are wielding a weapon of the storm from your Channel Divinity feature, that weapon has the thrown property with a normal range of 30 feet and a long range of 60 feet. Immediately after the attack, the weapon flies back to your hand.
Lightning damage and thunder damage dealt by you ignores resistance or immunity to lightning damage and thunder damage.
Whenever a creature hits you with an attack, lightning arcs from you to hit that creature. It takes lightning damage equal to half the damage you take from the attack.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
The new Weapon of the Storm indeed makes it a more viable choice, but I'd still take out the "unless it is a magic weapon that already has a bonus to those rolls." as again it would render the feature not so appealing at higher levels, where one would (theoretically in a typical campaign) have access to already +1 or +2 weapons. Taking that out, it would technically allow this feature to make a weapon grant a total of +4 to attack and damage, which is above the weapon bonus trend we see in 5ed, but I don't think it's a massive problem. I am still not sure the 1 minute duration is too much with these changes, but if you're happy with it, no complains here ;)
On the last point of Storm's Fury... it overlaps kind of weirdly with Vengeance of the Storm, imho. I'd keep it to activate on any weapon or spell attack (stuff like Finger of Death that grant a saving throw are not considered spell attacks, as there is no attack roll involved [IIRC]), in order to give a little bit of additional ranged capabilities over the "Hammer Throw". That being said, I'd probably relate the damage it deals more to the Paladin itself, rather than the damage suffered, something maybe along the lines of Paladin level+Charisma mod (with a cap of 25 damage, which is not enormous at level 20, but free damage is always nice). And last but not least: to try and limit the overlapping with Vengenace, I'd probably make either this third point or Vengeance itself a Reaction activated feature.
Hope to be of help :)
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
You're a tremendous help ;) The unless its already magical is in line with the Improved Pact Weapon from the Warlock. I see the advantage more in dealing lightning or thunder damage and making a non-magical weapon magic than the need to boost the attack and damage. I also thought about restricting the duration to your suggestion with CHA mod rounds, but statistically the average encounter lasts for 5 rounds, so restricting the duration to at max 5 rounds isn't a real restriction in the average encounter only in BBEG encounters. I made Storm's Fury a bonnus action, so you can potentionally activate the weapon and storm's fury which than last the same duration. An additional d6 damage avergates at just 3,5 bonus damage. But since you could decline reactions which it and later throw your weapon, I think it is in line with the features of the other paladin subclasses.
The vengeance of the storm and storm's fury situation is indeed problematic. I like your proposal of making it a reaction based feature. I will shift the third point of Storm's fury to Vengeance, make it Paladin level + CHA mod damage on a reaction.
Your point on Weapon of the Storm makes perfect sense, I didn't look at it that way. The additional damage is indeed enough for it to be interesting even at higher levels, especially as it makes you able to trigger the Aura effect and Vengeance with any weapon you might have.
As you are taking out the third point of Storm's Fury, how about adding a new one that further increases the range of the aura for the duration? or alternatively it could impose Disadvantage to the saving throws for the aura effect to enemies within the aura. The first option would also empower Vengeance, since it works on enemies within your aura, so it might be a bit too much, but it might also be something tactically interesting and definitely feels 20th level, imho.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Another thought: Maybe i swap the thrown feature and the free damage. So you could throw your weapon at level 15 and your avatar form gives you the free damage. Then the free damage is only active while in avatar form and the weapon gets another boost at level 15. With the new lightning shield spell at level 13 you could get a smaller kind of shield like the one at level 20 then.
Another thought: Maybe i swap the thrown feature and the free damage. So you could throw your weapon at level 15 and your avatar form gives you the free damage. Then the free damage is only active while in avatar form and the weapon gets another boost at level 15. With the new lightning shield spell at level 13 you could get a smaller kind of shield like the one at level 20 then.
That is indeed a good idea, and expands the versatility of the class. If it becomes an always on option, though, I'd probably give it the possibility of hitting enemies within the aura (which is still 30 feet) for it to return, and beyond that up to 60 the weapon just falls to the ground, just to keep the same ranges but tie it in more to the aura, increasing the importance of placement further.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Ah yeah I didn't considered, that it is always active then. I like your idea more to increase the aura's range for the duration. I think this makes a really epic 20th level feature, since it boosts not only the aura itself but also the 15th level feature.
Vengeance of the Storm
Starting at 15th level, if you’re not incapacitated, whenever a hostile creature inside your aura hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to let lightning arcs strike down on that creature. It takes lightning damage equal to your Paladin level + Charisma modifier.
Storm's Fury
At 20th level, as a bonus action you become an avatar of the storm, gaining the following benefits for 1 minute:
While you are wielding a weapon of the storm from your Channel Divinity feature, that weapon has the thrown property with a normal range of 30 feet and a long range of 60 feet. Immediately after the attack, the weapon flies back to your hand.
Lightning damage and thunder damage dealt by you ignores resistance or immunity to lightning damage and thunder damage.
The range of your Aura of the Storm increases to 60 feet.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Yeah, that would be cool. Thank you very much for your help. I'm currently collecting subclasses for a possible book and after watching Infinity War it was clear to me, that I need one with a Thor-vibe :D. Thanks again! I'm quit in love with how the subclass turned out.
Not sure if you know about it, but if you want to publish your stuff in the DM's Guild or anyway give a more "official" feel to you book, I suggest you to use homebrewery ;)
Looking forward to other subclasses form you!
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Couldn't really resist, so I made a quick mock-up of how a Barbarian subclass reminiscent of Kratos from the latest God of War might look like...
Path of the Íss
Barbarians are known to follow ancient gods and forgotten rituals. Some of these ancient gods, though, only seem to endlessly test their followers, gifting them lands of endless ice an inhospitable environments. Barbarians living in such lands sometimes walk the Path of the Íss, harnessing the cold energies around them to face even the most harsh conditions and unbreakeable foes.
Íss Rage
Starting at 3rd level when taking this Path, when raging you can make your weapon attack deal Cold damage. Also, when making a weapon attack while raging, you can expend a number of your remaining uses of your rage to deal a number of additional weapon dice as Cold damage equal to the number of rage uses you spend to activate this feature.
Kaldr
Beginning at 6th level, when you rage, you gain resistance to Cold and Necrotic damage.
Freezing Pain
Beginning at 10th level, as an action on your turn, you can force a number of creatures equal to your Strength modifier within 5 feet of you to make a Consitution saving throw (DC 8 + your Strength modifier + your proficiency modifier). On a failed save they become Stunned until the end of their next turn. The effect ends early if you move more than 10 feet from any of the targets affected.
Frost
Starting at 14th level, you gain resistance to Cold and Necrotic damage even when not raging, and when raging, enemies resistant to Cold damage take instead normal damage from your Íss Rage attacks, while enemies with Cold damage immunity take half damage.
Svell
Starting at 14th level, when raging, as an action in your turn you can force all enemies in a 15 foot cone in front of you to make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Strength modifier + your proficiency modifier). On a failed save they suffer Cold damage equal to your weapon damage + your Strength modifier + your Rage damage + your proficiency modifier, or half aas mmuch on a successfull save. You can use this feature once every short rest.
cool first mock-up definitely. A few things might need a little bit more work.
Íss Rage:
I would add the cold damage instead of a substitute it. But I would probably add the cold damage as an additional 1d8. Then the idea with additional dice is cool, but if it's dependend on other rage uses I think it must scale much higher, since rages are quit rare. At least +2d8 per rage, but probably even more. I don't know if you could use your rage normally is a better choice. Another idea is to relate the extra damage to your Hit Dice. If I remember correctly, Mike Mearls told in this video that the designers weren't quit sure what to do with hit dice, and that he thinks they could have done a better job there. So I would take up the idea to mechanically use your hit dice here as a consumable ressource. Something like: "Also, when you make a weapon attack while raging, you can expend a number of remaining hit dice up to your Strength modifier to deal additional cold damage to the target. The extra damage is 1d8 per hit die spend." This way the barbarian uses his own vitality to strengthen his attacks and he doesn't get everything back after a long rest.
Freezing Pain
seems a bit to powerful for my taste, since you could use it every turn. Maybe restrict this also while raging?
For the last two features, I wouldn't include two feature at level 14, since the other barbarians only get one feature. Maybe make the trick and include Frost in Kaldr, so that Svell is the only "real" level 14th feature.
Svell
I think here you need a simpler form. There are to many "plus x's" in there. I think somethink like a light form of cone of cold would work here. Maybe so: "Starting at 14th level, when raging, as an action you can force each creature in a 15 foot cone in front of you to make a Constitution saving throw against 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Strength modifier. A creature takes a number of d8 equal to half your barbarian level cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature killed by this effect becomes a frozen statue until it thaws."
This way the damage scales with your barbarian level.
In conclusion it would looke something like this:
Path of the Íss
Barbarians are known to follow ancient gods and forgotten rituals. Some of these ancient gods, though, only seem to endlessly test their followers, gifting them lands of endless ice an inhospitable environments. Barbarians living in such lands sometimes walk the Path of the Íss, harnessing the cold energies around them to face even the most harsh conditions and unbreakeable foes.
Íss Rage
Starting at 3rd level when taking this Path, when raging you deal an additional 1d8 Cold damage with your weapon attacks. Also, when you make a weapon attack while raging, you can expend a number of remaining hit dice up to your Strength modifier to deal additional cold damage to the target. The extra damage is 1d8 per hit die spend.
Kaldr
Beginning at 6th level, when you rage, you gain resistance to Cold damage and Necrotic damage.
At 14th level, you gain resistance to Cold damage and Necrotic damage even when not raging, and while raging your weapon attacks deal full damage to creatures with resistance to Cold damage and half as much damage to creatures with Immunity to Cold damage.
Freezing Pain
Beginning at 10th level, as a bonus action, you can force a number of creatures equal to your Strength modifier within 5 feet of you to make a Consitution saving throw against 8 + your Proficiency modifier + your Strength modifier. On a failed save they become Stunned until the end of your next turn. The effect ends early if you move more than 10 feet from any of the targets affected.
Once you have used this feature, you must finish a shirt rest before you can do so again.
Svell
Starting at 14th level, when raging, as an action you can force each creature in a 15 foot cone in front of you to make a Constitution saving throw against 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Strength modifier. A creature takes a number of d8 equal to half your barbarian level cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature killed by this effect becomes a frozen statue until it thaws.
You can use this feature once every short rest.
Ok after typing my proposal in the spoiler I've reworked freezing pain again, since technically, you could end your own rage with it. Your Rage ends if you haven't attacked a hostile creature or you haven't taken damage. If you are lucky and stun every creature, you haven't attack and no one could damage you so your rage would end. So I changed it so a bonus action, but since I think its to powerful I made it to a once per short rest feature. Compare it to the intimidating presence of the Berserker. That feature works only against one creature and if it succeeds on its save, it can't be frightened again, so affecting a number of Strength mod many creatures I think it would be better if this is only usable once per short rest.
Somehow, in my mind, for some reason, Rage resets on a short rest, not long -.-" that's the reason why I was tying the damage to the Rage uses.
I am not sure I like the idea of using hit dice for this... I have made a subclass focused on that mechanic (the Dusk Warrior) but it is thematically very distant from this one, so I am not sure it's the way to go. Also, foregoing 1d12 of potential healing for a +1d8 damage seems somehow ill-used. What I could do is maybe making it so that the Rage uses spent in this way can be recovered with a short rest, instead of a long one. This way they are a bit more easily recoverable, but still a resource you do not want to waste.
I agree on the need for the level 3 feature to actively do more damage by default, so probably your suggestion of +1d8 Cold is the way to go. I am also toying with the idea of making it an additional weapon damage die as Cold, but that seems a tad too much (2d12 damage each round using a Great Axe might be a bit OP). Another option is to add Rage damage bonus (or half of it, but in any case in addition to the normal bonus from rage) as Cold damage. It'd be a flat bonus, so it doesn't double with a possible critical, keeping things a bit more in check but also scaling with levels, I think.
I agree on everything else (especially merging Kaldr and Frost) :) Freezing pain works well as a once every short rest bonus action, and Svell definitely needed a simplification (I have the tendency of complicating the feature descriptions and calculations ^^").
Hey,
loved Thor in Infinity War so I created a new oath for the paladin. At 7th level he gets an aura which gives you and allies resistance to lightning damage and if you already have resistance to lightning damage it gives you (only you, not your allies) immunity to lightning damage. I'm not sure if that is to strong, since a Dragonborn Paladin could get lightning immunity this way at level 7. What do you think? I've created a new spell for paladin level 13 which functions as fire shield, but gives you lightning resistance. I thought to give the aura feature the immunity, because casting first a spell to get lightning resistance at level 13 to get immunity through the aura feature doesn't seem to strong to me, but I don't know, if other sources like the dragonborn could break this feature. How many monsters are there approximately, that deal lightning damage?
Here is the subclass:
Oath Spells
You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed in the Oath of the Storm Spells table. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how oath spells work.
Oath of the Storm Spells
Channel Divinity
When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how Channel Divinity works.
Weapon of the Storm. As an action, you can imbue one weapon that you are holding with the power of the storm, using your Channel Divinity. For 1 minute, your weapon deals lightning damage instead of its normal damage type and it becomes magical, if it is not already magical.
You can end this effect on your turn as part of any other action. If you are no longer holding or carrying this weapon, or if you fall unconscious, this effect ends.
Thunderous Guard. When a creature within 5 feet of you hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to push the creature 15 feet away from you.
Aura of the Storm
Starting at 7th level, the air around you is constantly filled with electricity. You and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you have resistance to lightning damage.
If you already have damage resistance to lightning from another source, you gain immunity to lightning damage.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Vengeance of the Storm
Starting at 15th level, whenever a hostile creature inside your aura hits you with an attack, that creature takes lightning damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) if you’re not incapacitated.
Storms Fury
At 20th level, as a bonus action you become an avatar of the storm, gaining the following benefits for 1 minute:
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
New Spell: Lightning Shield
Thunderbolts encompasses your body for the duration. You can end the spell early by using an action to dismiss it.
The thunderbolts provide you with an electric shield that grants you resistance to lightning damage.
In addition, whenever a creature within 5 feet of you hits you with a melee attack, the thunderbolts erupts from your shield and the attacker takes 2d8 lightning damage.
* - (a twig from a tree that has been struck by lightning)i feel like lightning damage is hard to come by how about you also give them resistance to thunder damage and immunity to any thunder or lightning damage you create as they are both uncommon types of damage so you can curve the lightning around your allies so you can keep on fighting without worrying about your destructive power overwhelming not just your enemies but also allies. as well as competing with the op oath of the ancients resistance to all spells.
I was thinking of removing the immunity part completely and add something like the dragon masks get you. If you damage a creature inside your aura with lightning damage, this creature can't make reaction until its next turn. Maybe restrict this to only one creature at a time instead of all creatures that take lightning damage in your aura.
I really like the idea and the flavor of the subclass!
That being said, I feel the Channel Divinity options are a little bit underpowered. While Thunderous Guard is situational but remains a valid option basically all the way up to level 20, I think Weapon of the Storm loses its appeal as soon as a magic weapon is obtained. Dealing Lightning damage can indeed be useful, at times, but why would I "waste" channel divinity for that if I already have a magical weapon?
Maybe you could think of having it grant an additional +1 to Attacks and Damage made with your weapon, and the weapon damage becomes Lightning and Thunder (both, just for kicks since it makes effectively little difference I think), all this lasting one minute. This way the bonus remains valid and useful all the way up to level 20.
Should you want to bring it up a further notch, you could have it also add some damage to it, like +1d6 (or [half proficiency]d6 if you want to make it scaling a bit) and that is the portion of the damage that is Lightning and Thunder. In this case, though, I'd probably limit the duration to CHA modifier turns, because otherwise the whole thing would be quite OP for a short-rest-reset feature.
Regarding the aura, I agree that the immunity to Lightning (adding also Thunder as Echohero suggests) should not be a huge problem unless the campaign/adventure takes place in the middle of the plane of air.
Should you still want to scrap the immunity, though, I think your idea is good, but maybe it's best not to limit it to one creature, but rather having any enemy hit by you within the aura make a CON saving throw when they would take their Reaction or try to move. Success, they take their reaction and move as normal; Fail, they are electrocuted by residual energy (no damage, I'd say) and cannot use their Reaction and their speed is halved for the rest of their turn. Bigger creatures would most probably succeed this, but is still a good way to keep control on smaller/faster ones.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Thanks for your feedback.
How exactly would it work if you deal lightning and thunder damage? Would you split this in some way, say 1D6 additional lightning and 1D6 additional thunder oder simply say that the damage is lightning AND thunder? I think there isn't anything currently in the game that deals more than one damage type, so I'm not sure how this would work against resistances if you deal for example 10 lightning and thunder damage and a creature has resistance to only one type. But maybe I don't get your point :).
Scaling the Weapon of the Storm feature is a good idea. My first thought was, that replacing the weapons damage is enough, but I could see to instead add lightning and/or thunder damage to the weapon.
Regarding the aura:
I see two ways of doing this (while scraping the immunity):
1st:
Aura of the Storm
Starting at 7th level, the air around you is constantly filled with electricity. You and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you have resistance to lightning damage.
Additionally, if you deal lightning damage to a creature within your aura, it can’t take reactions until its next turn.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
2nd:
Aura of the Storm
Starting at 7th level, the air around you is constantly filled with electricity. You and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you have resistance to lightning damage.
Whenever a hostile creature in your aura tries to move or to take a reaction it has to make a Constitution Saving Throw. On a success, it may move or take the reaction as normal; On a failure, it can't take the reaction and it movement speed is halved for the rest of it's turn.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
For the first one you need to spend your ressources and deal lightning damage. That might be another reason to use the Weapon of the Storm. The second one makes your aura also some kind of battle field control aura, since creatures are at a disadvantage when they are in your aura.
I like both ideas pretty much and can't say which one I might prefer. Like I said, the first one gives you another reason to use the Weapon of the Storm, which is nice to make it more powerful.
I didn't think of possible resistance and of not there being anything doing dual damage currently, to be honest :P
I'd say you could do it as in the Paladin chooses each turn the feature is active what type to damage to deal, just to give a bit more versatility.
For the aura, I see your point on giving an additional reason to use Weapon of the Storm, and I really like the idea.
In my opinion the two versions could be the merged, taking the movement-impairing effect on failed save when they try to move out of the second one, and the automatic "no reaction" one on Lightning/Thunder damage (I'd allow either to work, seems appropriate and ties into Weapon of the Storm choice of damage) from the first one.
This way you have an active and a passive effect, and the wider controlling part of the feature remains useful even when Weapon of the Storm is not active.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Ok changed some thinks.
- Weapon of the Storm now deals additional lightning or thunder damage and gets +1 to attack and damage
- Aura of the Storm has the 1st and 2nd option from above combined and gives lightning and thunder resistance
- Storm's Fury now ignores also thunder resistance and immunity
Last thing to fix probably (?): Make the last point of Storm's Fury to ocure on weapon attacks and not attacks in general. Otherwise it would work against spells like finger of death and other high damage spells, which might be to good.
Here it is:
Oath Spells
You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed in the Oath of the Storm Spells table. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how oath spells work.
Oath of the Storm Spells
Channel Divinity
When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how Channel Divinity works.
Weapon of the Storm. As an action, you can imbue one weapon that you are holding with the power of the storm, using your Channel Divinity. For 1 minute, your weapon deals an additional 1d6 lightning damage or thunder damage (of your choice each time you hit) and it becomes magical, if it is not already magical. In addition, the weapon gains a +1 bonus to its attack and damage rolls, unless it is a magic weapon that already has a bonus to those rolls.
You can end this effect on your turn as part of any other action. If you are no longer holding or carrying this weapon, or if you fall unconscious, this effect ends.
Thunderous Guard. When a creature within 5 feet of you hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to push the creature 15 feet away from you.
Aura of the Storm
Starting at 7th level, the air around you is constantly filled with electricity. You and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you have resistance to lightning damage and thunder damage.
Whenever a hostile creature inside your aura tries to move, it might get electrocuted by the energy that surrounds you. The creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or it movement speed is halved for the rest of its turn. The DC of the Constitution save throw equals your paladin spell save DC. Additionally, if you deal lightning damage or thunder damage to a creature within your aura, it can’t take reactions until its next turn.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Vengeance of the Storm
Starting at 15th level, whenever a hostile creature inside your aura hits you with an attack, that creature takes lightning damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) if you’re not incapacitated.
Storm's Fury
At 20th level, as a bonus action you become an avatar of the storm, gaining the following benefits for 1 minute:
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Good stuff!
A couple more comments, if I may :P
The new Weapon of the Storm indeed makes it a more viable choice, but I'd still take out the "unless it is a magic weapon that already has a bonus to those rolls." as again it would render the feature not so appealing at higher levels, where one would (theoretically in a typical campaign) have access to already +1 or +2 weapons. Taking that out, it would technically allow this feature to make a weapon grant a total of +4 to attack and damage, which is above the weapon bonus trend we see in 5ed, but I don't think it's a massive problem.
I am still not sure the 1 minute duration is too much with these changes, but if you're happy with it, no complains here ;)
On the last point of Storm's Fury... it overlaps kind of weirdly with Vengeance of the Storm, imho. I'd keep it to activate on any weapon or spell attack (stuff like Finger of Death that grant a saving throw are not considered spell attacks, as there is no attack roll involved [IIRC]), in order to give a little bit of additional ranged capabilities over the "Hammer Throw". That being said, I'd probably relate the damage it deals more to the Paladin itself, rather than the damage suffered, something maybe along the lines of Paladin level+Charisma mod (with a cap of 25 damage, which is not enormous at level 20, but free damage is always nice).
And last but not least: to try and limit the overlapping with Vengenace, I'd probably make either this third point or Vengeance itself a Reaction activated feature.
Hope to be of help :)
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
You're a tremendous help ;)
The unless its already magical is in line with the Improved Pact Weapon from the Warlock. I see the advantage more in dealing lightning or thunder damage and making a non-magical weapon magic than the need to boost the attack and damage.
I also thought about restricting the duration to your suggestion with CHA mod rounds, but statistically the average encounter lasts for 5 rounds, so restricting the duration to at max 5 rounds isn't a real restriction in the average encounter only in BBEG encounters. I made Storm's Fury a bonnus action, so you can potentionally activate the weapon and storm's fury which than last the same duration. An additional d6 damage avergates at just 3,5 bonus damage. But since you could decline reactions which it and later throw your weapon, I think it is in line with the features of the other paladin subclasses.
The vengeance of the storm and storm's fury situation is indeed problematic. I like your proposal of making it a reaction based feature. I will shift the third point of Storm's fury to Vengeance, make it Paladin level + CHA mod damage on a reaction.
Glad I could be of assistance :)
Your point on Weapon of the Storm makes perfect sense, I didn't look at it that way. The additional damage is indeed enough for it to be interesting even at higher levels, especially as it makes you able to trigger the Aura effect and Vengeance with any weapon you might have.
As you are taking out the third point of Storm's Fury, how about adding a new one that further increases the range of the aura for the duration? or alternatively it could impose Disadvantage to the saving throws for the aura effect to enemies within the aura.
The first option would also empower Vengeance, since it works on enemies within your aura, so it might be a bit too much, but it might also be something tactically interesting and definitely feels 20th level, imho.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Another thought:
Maybe i swap the thrown feature and the free damage. So you could throw your weapon at level 15 and your avatar form gives you the free damage. Then the free damage is only active while in avatar form and the weapon gets another boost at level 15.
With the new lightning shield spell at level 13 you could get a smaller kind of shield like the one at level 20 then.
YES, i like the idea of increasing the aura while in avatar form. So Vengeance and the Thrown feature stays where they are.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Ah yeah I didn't considered, that it is always active then. I like your idea more to increase the aura's range for the duration. I think this makes a really epic 20th level feature, since it boosts not only the aura itself but also the 15th level feature.
Vengeance of the Storm
Starting at 15th level, if you’re not incapacitated, whenever a hostile creature inside your aura hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to let lightning arcs strike down on that creature. It takes lightning damage equal to your Paladin level + Charisma modifier.
Storm's Fury
At 20th level, as a bonus action you become an avatar of the storm, gaining the following benefits for 1 minute:
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
I really like it :)
Now make something similar based on ice damage for the Barbarian and we can have a Thor vs Kratos fight XD
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Yeah, that would be cool. Thank you very much for your help. I'm currently collecting subclasses for a possible book and after watching Infinity War it was clear to me, that I need one with a Thor-vibe :D. Thanks again! I'm quit in love with how the subclass turned out.
No problem man, my pleasure!
Not sure if you know about it, but if you want to publish your stuff in the DM's Guild or anyway give a more "official" feel to you book, I suggest you to use homebrewery ;)
Looking forward to other subclasses form you!
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Couldn't really resist, so I made a quick mock-up of how a Barbarian subclass reminiscent of Kratos from the latest God of War might look like...
Path of the Íss
Barbarians are known to follow ancient gods and forgotten rituals. Some of these ancient gods, though, only seem to endlessly test their followers, gifting them lands of endless ice an inhospitable environments.
Barbarians living in such lands sometimes walk the Path of the Íss, harnessing the cold energies around them to face even the most harsh conditions and unbreakeable foes.
Íss Rage
Starting at 3rd level when taking this Path, when raging you can make your weapon attack deal Cold damage.
Also, when making a weapon attack while raging, you can expend a number of your remaining uses of your rage to deal a number of additional weapon dice as Cold damage equal to the number of rage uses you spend to activate this feature.
Kaldr
Beginning at 6th level, when you rage, you gain resistance to Cold and Necrotic damage.
Freezing Pain
Beginning at 10th level, as an action on your turn, you can force a number of creatures equal to your Strength modifier within 5 feet of you to make a Consitution saving throw (DC 8 + your Strength modifier + your proficiency modifier). On a failed save they become Stunned until the end of their next turn. The effect ends early if you move more than 10 feet from any of the targets affected.
Frost
Starting at 14th level, you gain resistance to Cold and Necrotic damage even when not raging, and when raging, enemies resistant to Cold damage take instead normal damage from your Íss Rage attacks, while enemies with Cold damage immunity take half damage.
Svell
Starting at 14th level, when raging, as an action in your turn you can force all enemies in a 15 foot cone in front of you to make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Strength modifier + your proficiency modifier). On a failed save they suffer Cold damage equal to your weapon damage + your Strength modifier + your Rage damage + your proficiency modifier, or half aas mmuch on a successfull save.
You can use this feature once every short rest.
Let me know your thoughts ;)
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Hey,
cool first mock-up definitely. A few things might need a little bit more work.
Íss Rage:
I would add the cold damage instead of a substitute it. But I would probably add the cold damage as an additional 1d8. Then the idea with additional dice is cool, but if it's dependend on other rage uses I think it must scale much higher, since rages are quit rare. At least +2d8 per rage, but probably even more. I don't know if you could use your rage normally is a better choice. Another idea is to relate the extra damage to your Hit Dice. If I remember correctly, Mike Mearls told in this video that the designers weren't quit sure what to do with hit dice, and that he thinks they could have done a better job there. So I would take up the idea to mechanically use your hit dice here as a consumable ressource. Something like:
"Also, when you make a weapon attack while raging, you can expend a number of remaining hit dice up to your Strength modifier to deal additional cold damage to the target. The extra damage is 1d8 per hit die spend."
This way the barbarian uses his own vitality to strengthen his attacks and he doesn't get everything back after a long rest.
Freezing Pain
seems a bit to powerful for my taste, since you could use it every turn. Maybe restrict this also while raging?
For the last two features, I wouldn't include two feature at level 14, since the other barbarians only get one feature.
Maybe make the trick and include Frost in Kaldr, so that Svell is the only "real" level 14th feature.
Svell
I think here you need a simpler form. There are to many "plus x's" in there. I think somethink like a light form of cone of cold would work here. Maybe so:
"Starting at 14th level, when raging, as an action you can force each creature in a 15 foot cone in front of you to make a Constitution saving throw against 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Strength modifier. A creature takes a number of d8 equal to half your barbarian level cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature killed by this effect becomes a frozen statue until it thaws."
This way the damage scales with your barbarian level.
In conclusion it would looke something like this:
Path of the Íss
Barbarians are known to follow ancient gods and forgotten rituals. Some of these ancient gods, though, only seem to endlessly test their followers, gifting them lands of endless ice an inhospitable environments.
Barbarians living in such lands sometimes walk the Path of the Íss, harnessing the cold energies around them to face even the most harsh conditions and unbreakeable foes.
Íss Rage
Starting at 3rd level when taking this Path, when raging you deal an additional 1d8 Cold damage with your weapon attacks.
Also, when you make a weapon attack while raging, you can expend a number of remaining hit dice up to your Strength modifier to deal additional cold damage to the target. The extra damage is 1d8 per hit die spend.
Kaldr
Beginning at 6th level, when you rage, you gain resistance to Cold damage and Necrotic damage.
At 14th level, you gain resistance to Cold damage and Necrotic damage even when not raging, and while raging your weapon attacks deal full damage to creatures with resistance to Cold damage and half as much damage to creatures with Immunity to Cold damage.
Freezing Pain
Beginning at 10th level, as a bonus action, you can force a number of creatures equal to your Strength modifier within 5 feet of you to make a Consitution saving throw against 8 + your Proficiency modifier + your Strength modifier. On a failed save they become Stunned until the end of your next turn. The effect ends early if you move more than 10 feet from any of the targets affected.
Once you have used this feature, you must finish a shirt rest before you can do so again.
Svell
Starting at 14th level, when raging, as an action you can force each creature in a 15 foot cone in front of you to make a Constitution saving throw against 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Strength modifier. A creature takes a number of d8 equal to half your barbarian level cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature killed by this effect becomes a frozen statue until it thaws.
You can use this feature once every short rest.
Ok after typing my proposal in the spoiler I've reworked freezing pain again, since technically, you could end your own rage with it. Your Rage ends if you haven't attacked a hostile creature or you haven't taken damage. If you are lucky and stun every creature, you haven't attack and no one could damage you so your rage would end. So I changed it so a bonus action, but since I think its to powerful I made it to a once per short rest feature. Compare it to the intimidating presence of the Berserker. That feature works only against one creature and if it succeeds on its save, it can't be frightened again, so affecting a number of Strength mod many creatures I think it would be better if this is only usable once per short rest.
Thank you for the feedback :)
Somehow, in my mind, for some reason, Rage resets on a short rest, not long -.-" that's the reason why I was tying the damage to the Rage uses.
I am not sure I like the idea of using hit dice for this... I have made a subclass focused on that mechanic (the Dusk Warrior) but it is thematically very distant from this one, so I am not sure it's the way to go. Also, foregoing 1d12 of potential healing for a +1d8 damage seems somehow ill-used.
What I could do is maybe making it so that the Rage uses spent in this way can be recovered with a short rest, instead of a long one. This way they are a bit more easily recoverable, but still a resource you do not want to waste.
I agree on the need for the level 3 feature to actively do more damage by default, so probably your suggestion of +1d8 Cold is the way to go. I am also toying with the idea of making it an additional weapon damage die as Cold, but that seems a tad too much (2d12 damage each round using a Great Axe might be a bit OP).
Another option is to add Rage damage bonus (or half of it, but in any case in addition to the normal bonus from rage) as Cold damage. It'd be a flat bonus, so it doesn't double with a possible critical, keeping things a bit more in check but also scaling with levels, I think.
I agree on everything else (especially merging Kaldr and Frost) :)
Freezing pain works well as a once every short rest bonus action, and Svell definitely needed a simplification (I have the tendency of complicating the feature descriptions and calculations ^^").
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games