I'm tossing around the idea of a feat or homebrew class passive ability that allows you to shape certain obscuring spells like fog cloud, darkness, and Hunger of Hadar when you cast them (given certain restrictions). It could be really cool to give a more utility to obscuring spells - for example, creating fog cloud with a shape that leaves some allies with their needed line of sight for attacks or casting darkness in shape that obscures party members with Darkvision but does not obscure those without, or the ability to partially change the shape of your spell in case the big bad runs out of it. I typed up out the details below but I would love critiques. On one hand, I feel like this could be a super cool utility buff to benefit party members in really unique ways, but I could also see this as being pretty busted or getting annoying for the dm if the opponents are just constantly blinded.
Shape Smokescreen Feat (or passive ability of some kind)
You can shape the area of effect for certain spells so long as the spell area of effect remains within the area of effect the standard spell has - for example, darkness casts a 15 ft radius sphere of darkness; however, the player could choose to shape the darkness spell to be cast as a line of darkness as long as it remains within the 15 ft radius sphere area the spell is usually cast as.
The player could also spend an action each turn to change the shape of the spell as long as it still remains within the area of effect of the standard spell cast centered on the space it was first cast. For example, using an action, you can reshape that line of darkness into the spell's standard 15 ft radius sphere of darkness centered on the space the spell was first cast at. This would allow you to change the shape of the spell (for darkness, any shape within a 15 ft radius), but it does not allow you to continuously relocate or push the entire area of effect (since the 15 ft radius would still have to originate from the space you first cast the spell on).
Additionally, when a spell is in a shape other than its standard area of effect, the caster has a -2 penalty to its corresponding concentration checks.
Your idea for a homebrew feat or passive ability that allows shaping of obscuring spells is quite interesting and could add a lot of strategic depth to the game.
The ability to shape spells adds a lot of utility, but it also has the potential to be very powerful. The -2 penalty to concentration checks when the spell is in a non-standard shape is a good balancing factor. You might also consider limiting the number of times this ability can be used per long rest.
The spells you’ve chosen are all obscuring spells, which fits with the theme of the feat. You might want to consider if there are other spells that could benefit from this ability, or if there are any spells on your list that could become too powerful with this ability.
interestinggggggg - ya, limiting the number of times you can shape the spells per long rest could keep it in check. That way you could pull off some pretty neat team strategies, but you wouldn't be able to use it to just constantly blind enemies when they move. Maybe you could use it equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest? That gives about 3-5 charges depending on your level. Perhaps you could cast the spell in any shape, but reshaping it afterwards would cost one of those charges
With that balance plus the -2 to concentration if shaped, I'm tempted to bump reshaping the spell to a bonus action so that it's a little more accessible during combat
And with the limited number of charges, maybe I could change up the rule for reshaping spells after the initial cast. With the way it is currently written, you can reshape a spell after the initial cast but it must still be reshaped within a the radius centered on the initial casting space. Perhaps, a different way of doing it would be, "you can reshape a spell after the initial cast by choosing a new space that the spell is currently active on as the new radius center which the new shape must fit within".
Essentially,
1) cast darkness in whatever shape you want (let's pick a straight line) provided it fits within the standard spell area of effect (15 ft radius)
2) you can spend a bonus action and 1 Shape Smokescreen Charge to pick a new radius center to make a new shape within - the square that is chosen as the new radius center must have also had part of the previous spell shape active on it.
This way you can sort of snake a smokescreen across the map a limited number of times, but you can't just teleport it to a completely different space
Hey all,
I'm tossing around the idea of a feat or homebrew class passive ability that allows you to shape certain obscuring spells like fog cloud, darkness, and Hunger of Hadar when you cast them (given certain restrictions). It could be really cool to give a more utility to obscuring spells - for example, creating fog cloud with a shape that leaves some allies with their needed line of sight for attacks or casting darkness in shape that obscures party members with Darkvision but does not obscure those without, or the ability to partially change the shape of your spell in case the big bad runs out of it. I typed up out the details below but I would love critiques. On one hand, I feel like this could be a super cool utility buff to benefit party members in really unique ways, but I could also see this as being pretty busted or getting annoying for the dm if the opponents are just constantly blinded.
Shape Smokescreen Feat (or passive ability of some kind)
You can shape the area of effect for certain spells so long as the spell area of effect remains within the area of effect the standard spell has - for example, darkness casts a 15 ft radius sphere of darkness; however, the player could choose to shape the darkness spell to be cast as a line of darkness as long as it remains within the 15 ft radius sphere area the spell is usually cast as.
The player could also spend an action each turn to change the shape of the spell as long as it still remains within the area of effect of the standard spell cast centered on the space it was first cast. For example, using an action, you can reshape that line of darkness into the spell's standard 15 ft radius sphere of darkness centered on the space the spell was first cast at. This would allow you to change the shape of the spell (for darkness, any shape within a 15 ft radius), but it does not allow you to continuously relocate or push the entire area of effect (since the 15 ft radius would still have to originate from the space you first cast the spell on).
Additionally, when a spell is in a shape other than its standard area of effect, the caster has a -2 penalty to its corresponding concentration checks.
Spells you can use this feat on
fog cloud
darkness
hungar of hadar
maddening darkness
dark star
Your idea for a homebrew feat or passive ability that allows shaping of obscuring spells is quite interesting and could add a lot of strategic depth to the game.
The ability to shape spells adds a lot of utility, but it also has the potential to be very powerful. The -2 penalty to concentration checks when the spell is in a non-standard shape is a good balancing factor. You might also consider limiting the number of times this ability can be used per long rest.
The spells you’ve chosen are all obscuring spells, which fits with the theme of the feat. You might want to consider if there are other spells that could benefit from this ability, or if there are any spells on your list that could become too powerful with this ability.
My Homebrew: Spells Subclasses
interestinggggggg - ya, limiting the number of times you can shape the spells per long rest could keep it in check. That way you could pull off some pretty neat team strategies, but you wouldn't be able to use it to just constantly blind enemies when they move. Maybe you could use it equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest? That gives about 3-5 charges depending on your level. Perhaps you could cast the spell in any shape, but reshaping it afterwards would cost one of those charges
With that balance plus the -2 to concentration if shaped, I'm tempted to bump reshaping the spell to a bonus action so that it's a little more accessible during combat
And with the limited number of charges, maybe I could change up the rule for reshaping spells after the initial cast. With the way it is currently written, you can reshape a spell after the initial cast but it must still be reshaped within a the radius centered on the initial casting space. Perhaps, a different way of doing it would be, "you can reshape a spell after the initial cast by choosing a new space that the spell is currently active on as the new radius center which the new shape must fit within".
Essentially,
1) cast darkness in whatever shape you want (let's pick a straight line) provided it fits within the standard spell area of effect (15 ft radius)
2) you can spend a bonus action and 1 Shape Smokescreen Charge to pick a new radius center to make a new shape within - the square that is chosen as the new radius center must have also had part of the previous spell shape active on it.
This way you can sort of snake a smokescreen across the map a limited number of times, but you can't just teleport it to a completely different space
Its seems fair !
My Homebrew: Spells Subclasses