Hello! How are you? I’ll be honest, I was looking at some Homebrew by LeK, and got jealous. Why weren’t mine that good! Why does everyone say mine are bad! So, I decided to try making a good one. Please help me balance it!
I made this one as I got to thinking, Why can’t a Warlock be powerful with ranged weapons? They have Pact of the Blade, and all the good stuff. So, when a player told me they were bored if spamming Eldritch Blast, I made this!
Pact of the Parasite
Most warlocks make pacts with creatures they don’t know, whether from planes such as the Abyss or the Feywilds, or from ancient relics from the Shadowfell or places we can’t even imagine. However, warlocks of the Parasite make a pact with a creature inside of them. Whether a Demon Possession or they drank some Aberration-Infected well water, these warlocks make pacts to survive whatever’s inside of them, and the Patron agrees, making this less of a Parasitic Relationship and more of a Symbiotic one, as they keep each other alive.
The Patron secretly urges the Warlock to fight from afar, in order to ensure it’s survival, sometimes resorting to fear in order to ensure this. The Parasite may punish the warlock for fighting up close, or they may recognize it was necessary.
Expanded Spell List
The Parasite inside of you lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.
At level 1, your Patron grants you magic to mark enemies and summon creatures, but this magic is more based on your Well-being than your presence. Your Spellcasting Ability is Constitution.
In addition, Your patron grants you better accuracy with ranged weaponry to fight away from battle. Once every Long Rest, you may touch a Ranged Weapon you’re proficient with and imbue it with alien power. That weapon gains a bonus to Attack and Damage rolls equal to Half your Constitution modifier, rounded up. This feature can only be granted to one weapon at a time.
Symbiotic Assistance
At level 6, your Patron’s power is stronger, and, as such, so is your boon. You gain the following benefits based off of your Pact Boon.
Ranged Excellency (Pact of the Blade): Your Patron is now and expert at ranged combat. Your Pact Weapon can now be any ranged weapon, and your pact weapon automatically gains the bonus from your Parasitic Power trait.
Alien Assistance (Pact of the Chain): Your Patron’s powers extend beyond universes. Your Familiar can also be a Gazer, a Swarm of Rot Grubs, or a Quickling.
Kingly Knowledge (Pact of the Tome): Your Patron now knows secrets far greater than anything the world’s greatest wizards know. As an action, you may attempt to cast a spell using a spells slot above one you have. (Ex. At level 6, you have 2 level 3 spell slots. Using this, you can try to cast a spell with a 4th level spell slot) Make an Intellgence (Arcana) or a Constitution (Arcana) check. The DC for this is 10+twice the spell slots level. On a success, you cast a spell you know using this spell slot you don’t have. On a failure, you waste a spell slot and your action is wasted.
Aberration Escape
At level 10, your Patron now has the power to keep you out of harm. As a reaction (which you take after being hit with a melee attack), you may turn Invisible and move up to 60ft away from the attacker. At the start of your next turn, you become visible again. This resets after a Long Rest, and you can do this before then a number of times equal to your Constitution Modifier.
Parasitic Presence
At level 14, your Patron is so powerful it can now send a piece of itself to protect you. As an Action, you may summon your Patron in a Space within 5ft of you. It may not be targeted by an attacking or spell, and it automatically succeeds on spell saves. It takes it’s turn on your initiative. The Patron goes away after an Hour, after your concentration is broken, or after Combat is over, whichever comes first. As an Action, the Patron may target a Creature you can see within 90ft of you. The target must make a Constitution save against your spell save DC or be transported to the realm of your Patron, and it will come back in 3 rounds. After it comes back, it has taken 8d12 force damage, and if it is still alive, it will die in 2d4 turns. When this creature dies, you gain a bonus to your Hit Points and Hit Points maximum equal to the creature’s Hit Point maximum. This lasts until your Patron disappears. Your patron can do this a number of times equal to your Constitution Modifier, and disappears after it can’t do this anymore.
You gain this ability back after a long rest.
So, how is it? Is there anything I should do to balance it? I’m open to suggestions!
Quick thought, shouldn't you include spells like conjure volley or swift quiver on the expanded spell list if this subclass is supposed to be a ranged weapons specialist?
Well, after some people were to help me with this, I was going to try to actually make it in the builder. So, for the expanded spell list, I only chose from the Basic Rules, as that’s all you can have. I would’ve included them, definitely, if it were possible to still build it that way.
A feature that allows you to cast an action spell as part of your Attack with a ranged weapon? Then you get more options that are related to the use of ranged weapons.
Hm... I was looking for better ideas for the Parasitic Power trait. Maybe this could be good?
’In addition, whenever you attack a creature with a Ranged Weapon Attack, you may use a Bonus Action to cast a spell with a casting time of 1 Action.’
That good? So you can both attack from afar and blast your opponent with spells, but you can’t multi class into Wizard and just spam Fireball after every Crossbow attack with your Pact of the Blade boon.
Sounds good, are you going to do the same restriction as Eldrith Knight where, at first it's only Cantrips then later regular spells, or not? Honestly, I think it would be okay not to have that restriction for this.
The lv1 trait seems too overpowered to me - it essentially gives you a +2 magical weapon (assuming 16+ dex, which isn't uncommon I'd imagine) as a starting adventurer. If the warlock has loaded their highest stat into dex than they've got a +5 modifier and a +3 weapon on hand. Is your edit above about a bonus-action spell instead of this option? That might work as a once-per-rest ability maybe.
True, the option above is supposed to be a replacement for that, yes. Now, if you don’t mind me asking, why would you say it needs to be once per rest? It already either uses a spell slot (that of which is very limited) or a cantrip.
Mainly due to Eldritch blast - being able to do 1 range + 1 blast every turn seems huge for level 1. And by level 5 that eldritch blast gets double as effective.
’In addition, whenever you attack a creature with a Ranged Weapon Attack, you may use a Bonus Action to cast a spell with a casting time of 1 Action. If this spell can target multiple targets, it may only target one, and only send out 1 damaging effect. For example, if you cast Eldritch Blast at 5th level or Magic Missile, it may only fire one beam or dart.’
Doe stat make it better, or is it still unbalanced or bad?
Personally, it now sounds a lot like that Death Cleric feature that lets you send a spell at another target within 5ft, but better.
I think your subclass is pretty interesting but overpowered and unbalanced. Part of what you may be struggling with is that your class features either reinforce that a parasite is giving the character power OR that this is a ranged combatant, not that this is a ranged combatant empowered by a parasite.
Changing any class’s primary ability score to CHA, especially a spellcaster, is going to be overpowered. It removes the need to balance survivability with offense and defense. There’s nothing wrong with having subclass features key off of it, but I don’t know that it’s necessary for a ranged combatant. Instead I would start with an ability similar to the Hexblade’s:
Parasitic Power: You are proficient in all ranged weapons. Additionally you may touch a weapon you are proficient in after you finish a long rest, you can use your CHA mod instead of your DEX mod for attack and damage rolls with this weapon. If you later take the Pact of the Blade you are able to conjure a ranged weapon, this benefit extends to it.
Spread the Larva: Once per turn you are able deal poison damage to a target you hit with a ranged attack, this damage is equal to you Warlock level and ignores resistance to poison damage. (I haven’t done the math but this should somewhat scale with Eldritch Blast. Many more creatures have resistance and immunity to poison damage than force so maybe psychic is better, but poison feels appropriate to a parasite.)
The 6th level doesn’t really feel like an ability. I’d relegate the familiar option to a “sidebar”, fold the Pact of the Blade into the 1st level feature and then develop a feature that applies across the subclass. A reasonable feature to add here would be Extra Attack, which with a long bow and 18 in CHA does an average of 8.5 extra damage per turn. The Hexblade can summon a specter which does an extra 10 damage per turn, so 8-10 seems like a good range to balance things against. If you like the idea of Kingly Knowledge upcasting a spell by one level generally adds 1 extra damage die. Consider fireball, assuming that it hits an average of 6 creatures (https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/325-why-run-combat-in-the-theater-of-the-mind) a fireball upcast 1 level does an average of 21 extra points of damage, which means you should be able to upcast somewhere in the realm of 3 times every 7 turns, or roughly 45%. If you use a CHA (Arcana) assuming proficiency in Arcana and an 18 CHA the DC comes out to 16. Here could be an interesting place to explore a “secondary" ability score. You could lower the DC but require a ability check based on a different score, this makes a player chose between a highe spell attack/damage bonus and save DC or the ability to upcast more often. I’d probably change the name (Kingly Knowledge doesn’t seem very parasite-y) and have it use an action with the cost of failure being that you lose that action rather than a spell slot. I’m sure this can use some more balancing but at least you can see where I’m coming from. Some other things to consider:
Extra Attack
Whenever you use an action to can as spell you can use a bonus action to make a ranged weapon attack, this attack can’t benefit from your Spread the Larva feature.
Whenever you reduce a creature to 0 HP with your Spread the Larva feature you can: (all different features, not one with a choice)
Summon a (monster stat block you create that is an aberration, but equivalent of a specter) that lasts until your next long rest, once per long rest.
Raise it as a zombie (that is of the aberration type, not undead type) with 1 hp for 1 hour.
Raise it as a zombie (that is of the aberration type, not undead type) for 1 hour, you may use this feature a number of times equal to your CHA mod per long rest (Circle of Spores went from as many 1 HP zombies as you could kill in UA to WIS mod # of regular zombies per long rest in official publication, probably for a reason.)
Aberration Escape is exactly what you want. You’re not a melee fighter, when you get hit, get the f out of there! I’d say 4-5 times per long rest @ 10+ levelsis pretty equal to 2-3 (2-3 short rest/long rest) per long rest at 6th level. Just for fun, consider making it more powerful, and leaving it at once per short rest.
As a reaction, whenever you are hit by an attack, you can transform into a clear ooze. You may immediately move up to 60’ without provoking opportunity attacks and can move through a space as small as 1” wide with out squeezing. Additionally you are resistant to all damage except psychic damage and creatures that rely on sight have disadvantage on attack rolls that target you, this lasts until the beginning of your next turn.
The capstone is complicated, 12d8 is completely in line with the 10d10 Hurl Through Hell does. The automatic death, even with a save, in 2d4 rounds is completely over powered, especially when combined with the ability to get HP and increase your HP maximum by an amount of that of a creature that can potentially survive 12d8 of damage, even if it requires concentration. Consider it against The Celestial (who’s capstone also allows you to regain HP and deal damage, but only happens when you make a death save) which only allows you to regain half your HP and only do 2d8 + CHA mod damage. If you want to deal damage and regain HP I’d use The Celestial capstone as a model. If you just want to deal damage stick with the 12d8, but only take them out of combat for 1 round. You could also consider an AOE/multiple target capstone, which I don’t think any other subclass has and feels appropriate to a the idea of a ranged weapon Warlock., similar to the Hunter Ranger’s volley. Maybe something built off of [Tooltip Not Found] since it’s a 6th level spell like harm which does similar damage to Hurl Through Hell.
My apologies if this comes off as brusque. I accidentally erased my post 3/4 of the way through and have only regurgitated the salient points.
I think your subclass is pretty interesting but overpowered and unbalanced. Part of what you may be struggling with is that your class features either reinforce that a parasite is giving the character power OR that this is a ranged combatant, not that this is a ranged combatant empowered by a parasite.
Changing any class’s primary ability score to CHA, especially a spellcaster, is going to be overpowered. It removes the need to balance survivability with offense and defense. There’s nothing wrong with having subclass features key off of it, but I don’t know that it’s necessary for a ranged combatant. Instead I would start with an ability similar to the Hexblade’s:
Parasitic Power: You are proficient in all ranged weapons. Additionally you may touch a weapon you are proficient in after you finish a long rest, you can use your CHA mod instead of your DEX mod for attack and damage rolls with this weapon. If you later take the Pact of the Blade you are able to conjure a ranged weapon, this benefit extends to it.
Personally, I didn’t want just a clone of Hexblade when I made this. Trust me, I wrote the exact same thing and then erased it over. Now, when you say CHA, I assume you mean CON, as that’s what it was changed to.
Spread the Larva: Once per turn you are able deal poison damage to a target you hit with a ranged attack, this damage is equal to you Warlock level and ignores resistance to poison damage. (I haven’t done the math but this should somewhat scale with Eldritch Blast. Many more creatures have resistance and immunity to poison damage than force so maybe psychic is better, but poison feels appropriate to a parasite.)
(Spoilers from now on because it’s easier than quoting and erasing) This ability suggestion is good. I like it. Simple, easy, and good. Just one thing I don’t like. The traits say Parasite, but Bug Parasite. When I was writing the Flavor text, I wrote it as ‘A Demon possession or some Abberation Infested Water’. Spread the larva just feels to bug like for these examples. But hey, i’ll Think about something
.
The 6th level doesn’t really feel like an ability. I’d relegate the familiar option to a “sidebar”, fold the Pact of the Blade into the 1st level feature and then develop a feature that applies across the subclass. A reasonable feature to add here would be Extra Attack, which with a long bow and 18 in CHA does an average of 8.5 extra damage per turn. The Hexblade can summon a specter which does an extra 10 damage per turn, so 8-10 seems like a good range to balance things against. If you like the idea of Kingly Knowledge upcasting a spell by one level generally adds 1 extra damage die. Consider fireball, assuming that it hits an average of 6 creatures (https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/325-why-run-combat-in-the-theater-of-the-mind) a fireball upcast 1 level does an average of 21 extra points of damage, which means you should be able to upcast somewhere in the realm of 3 times every 7 turns, or roughly 45%. If you use a CHA (Arcana) assuming proficiency in Arcana and an 18 CHA the DC comes out to 16. Here could be an interesting place to explore a “secondary" ability score. You could lower the DC but require a ability check based on a different score, this makes a player chose between a highe spell attack/damage bonus and save DC or the ability to upcast more often. I’d probably change the name (Kingly Knowledge doesn’t seem very parasite-y) and have it use an action with the cost of failure being that you lose that action rather than a spell slot. I’m sure this can use some more balancing but at least you can see where I’m coming from. Some other things to consider:
Extra Attack
Whenever you use an action to can as spell you can use a bonus action to make a ranged weapon attack, this attack can’t benefit from your Spread the Larva feature.
Whenever you reduce a creature to 0 HP with your Spread the Larva feature you can: (all different features, not one with a choice)
Summon a (monster stat block you create that is an aberration, but equivalent of a specter) that lasts until your next long rest, once per long rest.
Raise it as a zombie (that is of the aberration type, not undead type) with 1 hp for 1 hour.
Raise it as a zombie (that is of the aberration type, not undead type) for 1 hour, you may use this feature a number of times equal to your CHA mod per long rest (Circle of Spores went from as many 1 HP zombies as you could kill in UA to WIS mod # of regular zombies per long rest in official publication, probably for a reason.)
Once again, good suggestions. The intent for Kingly Knowledge was that you spend that 3rd level slot to cast that spell with a 4th level spell slot. So, no, you couldn’t do it repeatedly, and it’d be risky. But nice catch.
(too lazy to do spoilers and stuff, so i’m Just gonna talk.)
Thanks for the compliments on Adaption Escape! And the Capstone ability is going to need some work done, yes.
A very minor thing, but given that this is meant to be a patron, it should just be called "The Parasite"
Pact of the Chain, Pact of the Blade, and Pact of the Tome are a separate set of abilities for warlocks available to all of them regardless of which patron they choose. So I think calling it "Pact of the Parasite" makes it sound more like a part of that Warlock feature rather than as a separate Patron subclass.
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Thank you for responding! I’m looking to balance this out. Thank you very much for the input.
Sorry for the late response (and for all the typos, that CHA was definitely supposed to be CON 😬) it’s been a busy week. Hopefully this is moot and you’ve worked out something you and your player are enjoying! If not I will also be lazy and just talk, since I’m finally getting to sit down with a cup of coffee.
-Parasitic Power: I totally get that you don’t want a Hexblade clone, but if you want a ranged weapon warlock I feel like they should be proficient with ranged weapons and be able to use their CHA mod (which Hexblades can’t do unless they take the Pact of the Blade and an invocation or get a magic ranged weapon, if that helps it feel more unique.) You could probably remove the whole touch one weapon after a long rest Hexblade mechanic and just use the CHA mod with all ranged weapons without being to OP. I am curious to see if you’ve come up with something different though?
-“Spread the Larva”: Glad you like it, but on further reflection this should require some kind of roll, while at 17th level Eldritch Blast can do an average of 22 (+20 with an invocation) points of damage vs. 26.5 with this feature it requires 4 attack rolls vs. 1 attack roll. If you stick with poison damage a CON save may work, if you’ve changed the damage to fit your lore better maybe a different stat is better.
-Kingly Knowledge: I may be misunderstanding you ("So, no you couldn’t do it repeatedly..."), I am a bit groggy. It may have gotten lost in all the text about how I got there, but I don’t think upcasting a spell by one level is super powerful and you should be able to do it more often with less consequence than you initially suggested.
Regardless, I hope the balancing is going well and I’d be interested to see what you settle on for a capstone and how it all ends up!
Now, I am Discarding the Parasite Patron. I dot enjoy it. While it is a great theme, it could be used for something else, such as Ghost Possession features or Poison Damage immunity, things like that. Being a Rmaged-Proficiency patron didn't fit. So, here's what I have come up with now:
Elemental Patron
The Elemental Planes have many cultists, followers, or subjects. Many of the creatures that inhabit these planes are called elementals; beings of magic, given life by the elements that make the planes themselves. Creatures that would grant this pact would be powerful elementals, such as Ogrémoch, a Leviathan,a [/monster]Djinni[/monster], or a Phoenix. A Warlock of the Elemental may have taken a pact on their terms in exchange for releasing it, or killing a powerful rival elemental. Whatever the case, they are granted powers beyond them, control over the elements that shape reality.
Expanded Spell List
The elements now power through you, granting you magic unlike any other. The following spells are added to the Warlock spell list for you.
At level 1, when you choose this patron, the power of the elements around you allow for more powerful ranged attacks. You gain proficiency with all Ranged Weapons. You may use Charisma instead of Dexterity for Ranged weapons.
In addition, when you hit with a Ranged Weapon attack, you may deal an extra 1d6 damage. Choose between the 4 elements listed below; these will determine future features and the damage done by this feature. Water: Cold Damage Earth: Acid Damage Air:Thunder Damage Fire: Fire Damage
This damage increases by one die at 5th level(2d6), 11th level(3d6), and 17th level(4d6).
Elemental Escape
At level 6, your mastery upon Elements can now be used to prevent harm. Depending on the element you chose in the level 1 feature, you gain the following trait: Water: as a reaction, when a creature hits you with a melee attack, you may roll 1d10. Subtract the number you rolled from the monsters attack roll. This calculation can turn a hit into a miss. This can be done a total of times equal to your Charisma Modifier per Long rest. Earth:As a reaction, when a creature hits you with a melee attack, roll the total damage dice used in the attack against you. The attacker takes damage equal to the amount you rolled, ignoring Resistance and Immunity. This can be done a total of times equal to your Charisma Modifier per Long rest. Air: You gain a Flying Speed equal to your Walking Speed. In addition, as a reaction to having a creature end it's turn within 10 feet of you, you may fly up to your movement away without provoking oppurtunity attacks. This can be done a total of times equal to your Charisma Modifier per Long rest. Fire: As a reaction, when a creature attacks you with a melee attack, you may exhale smoke, Heavily Obscuring you and every space within 5ft of you. You may see through this smoke, and it lasts until the end of your next turn. You may do this a number of times equal to your Charisma Modifier per Long Rest.
Elemental Nature
At level 10, your patron bestows upon you powers that twist the nature of your soul, making it more like an elemental's. You no longer have to eat, sleep, or drink, and magic cant put you to sleep, though can still gain the benefits and drawback's of potions and poisons, and still require rest to get rid of exhaustion. In addition, based on your chosen element, you gain the following trait:
Water: You gain resistance to Cold damage. At level 14, this becomes Immunity, and you instead heal whatever damage you were supposed to take. Earth: You gain resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage. At level 14, this becomes Immunity, and you instead heal whatever damage you were supposed to take. Air: You gain resistance to Lightning damage. At level 14, this becomes Immunity, and you instead heal whatever damage you were supposed to take. Fire: You gain resistance to Fire damage. At level 14, this becomes Immunity, and you instead heal whatever damage you were supposed to take.
Devastation of the Planes
At level 14, you have become powerful enough to command forces stronger than you, using their powers to alter reality. You may spend 10 minutes and 2 spell slots to create a Devastation Orb. If you create more than 1, the first one dissapears, unretreivable. In addition, Depending on your chosen element, you gain the following trait: Water: As an action, you may choose one creature within 90 ft of you. The creauture must make a Constitution save equal to your spell save DC. On a success, nothing happens. On a failure, they are transported to the Elemental Plane of Water until the end of your next turn. there, they take 5d10 Lightning damage and 5d10 Cold damage, then return. Earth: As an action, you may choose one creature within 90 ft of you. The creauture must make a strength save equal to your spell save DC. On a success, nothing happens. On a failure, they are transported to the Elemental Plane of Earth until the end of your next turn. there, they take 5d10 Poison and 5d10 Necrotic damage, then return. Air: As an action, you may choose one creature within 90 ft of you. The creauture must make a Charisma save equal to your spell save DC. On a success, nothing happens. On a failure, they are transported to the Elemental Plane of Air until the end of your next turn. there, they take 5d10 Thunder damage and 5d10 Bludgeoning damage, then return. Fire: As an action, you may choose one creature within 90 ft of you. The creauture must make a Charisma save equal to your spell save DC. On a success, nothing happens. On a failure, they are transported to the Elemental Plane of Fire until the end of your next turn. there, they take 5d10 Fire damage and 5d10 Necrotic damage, then return.
Lv 1) The ranged weapon thing doesn't make sense at all here. Make it so that spells of their matching elemental type do additional damage, perhaps with the precursor that cantrips don't count/spell slots are needed, which limits its OP-ness. (or make it d4 rather than d6 maybe). Alternatively you could make it so Eldritch Blast matches their chosen type and not give it any buffs (as they can use their incantations to buff it as they please).
Lv 6) Seems OK, assuming that it is "once per short rest" like the Archfey Misty Escape ability rather than CHA modifier.
Lv 10) The resistance stuff is fine, but the immunity AND healing at level 14 is absolutely insane - especially for Earth aligned patrons.
Lv 14) Assuming this is riffing off of The Fiend's similar ability, I would make this 10d10 of the matching element rather than odd pairs.
Lv 1) The ranged weapon thing doesn't make sense at all here. Make it so that spells of their matching elemental type do additional damage, perhaps with the precursor that cantrips don't count/spell slots are needed, which limits its OP-ness. (or make it d4 rather than d6 maybe). Alternatively you could make it so Eldritch Blast matches their chosen type and not give it any buffs (as they can use their incantations to buff it as they please).
Once again, made it with the original intention of not having to spam Eldritch Bast, and instead use ranged weapons. I described it as ‘Using the Elements to power your ranged attacks further’.... did I? Well, that's how I would describe it. It’s basically a modified Sneak Attack- with it always there and having worse level up coverage, but it uses Elemental damage instead of piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning.
Lv 10) The resistance stuff is fine, but the immunity AND healing at level 14 is absolutely insane - especially for Earth aligned patrons.
Hmm.. I liked it, but it can be abused. How would healing coming later- maybe 16, 18, or 20?- sound? And you only get 1 element, so if you chose earth at the beginning, you only get the earth features.
Lv 14) Assuming this is riffing off of The Fiend's similar ability, I would make this 10d10 of the matching element rather than odd pairs.
It is based off of the Fiend’s, yes. I have it like that so that A) If something has immunity to one damage, it doesn’t to the other (Maybe). B) Because I wanted it to be different. However, I would enjoy someone suggesting some other level 14 ability, as I feel this one is too close to the fiend’s.
Hello! How are you? I’ll be honest, I was looking at some Homebrew by LeK, and got jealous. Why weren’t mine that good! Why does everyone say mine are bad! So, I decided to try making a good one. Please help me balance it!
I made this one as I got to thinking, Why can’t a Warlock be powerful with ranged weapons? They have Pact of the Blade, and all the good stuff. So, when a player told me they were bored if spamming Eldritch Blast, I made this!
Pact of the Parasite
Most warlocks make pacts with creatures they don’t know, whether from planes such as the Abyss or the Feywilds, or from ancient relics from the Shadowfell or places we can’t even imagine. However, warlocks of the Parasite make a pact with a creature inside of them. Whether a Demon Possession or they drank some Aberration-Infected well water, these warlocks make pacts to survive whatever’s inside of them, and the Patron agrees, making this less of a Parasitic Relationship and more of a Symbiotic one, as they keep each other alive.
The Patron secretly urges the Warlock to fight from afar, in order to ensure it’s survival, sometimes resorting to fear in order to ensure this. The Parasite may punish the warlock for fighting up close, or they may recognize it was necessary.
Expanded Spell List
The Parasite inside of you lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.
1st: Hunters Mark, Inflict Wounds
2nd: Enhance Ability, Protection from Poison
3rd: Spirit Guardians, Slow
4th: Faithful Hound, Guardian of Faith
5th: Insect Plague, Cloudkill
Parasitic Power
At level 1, your Patron grants you magic to mark enemies and summon creatures, but this magic is more based on your Well-being than your presence. Your Spellcasting Ability is Constitution.
In addition, Your patron grants you better accuracy with ranged weaponry to fight away from battle. Once every Long Rest, you may touch a Ranged Weapon you’re proficient with and imbue it with alien power. That weapon gains a bonus to Attack and Damage rolls equal to Half your Constitution modifier, rounded up. This feature can only be granted to one weapon at a time.
Symbiotic Assistance
At level 6, your Patron’s power is stronger, and, as such, so is your boon. You gain the following benefits based off of your Pact Boon.
Ranged Excellency (Pact of the Blade): Your Patron is now and expert at ranged combat. Your Pact Weapon can now be any ranged weapon, and your pact weapon automatically gains the bonus from your Parasitic Power trait.
Alien Assistance (Pact of the Chain): Your Patron’s powers extend beyond universes. Your Familiar can also be a Gazer, a Swarm of Rot Grubs, or a Quickling.
Kingly Knowledge (Pact of the Tome): Your Patron now knows secrets far greater than anything the world’s greatest wizards know. As an action, you may attempt to cast a spell using a spells slot above one you have. (Ex. At level 6, you have 2 level 3 spell slots. Using this, you can try to cast a spell with a 4th level spell slot) Make an Intellgence (Arcana) or a Constitution (Arcana) check. The DC for this is 10+twice the spell slots level. On a success, you cast a spell you know using this spell slot you don’t have. On a failure, you waste a spell slot and your action is wasted.
Aberration Escape
At level 10, your Patron now has the power to keep you out of harm. As a reaction (which you take after being hit with a melee attack), you may turn Invisible and move up to 60ft away from the attacker. At the start of your next turn, you become visible again. This resets after a Long Rest, and you can do this before then a number of times equal to your Constitution Modifier.
Parasitic Presence
At level 14, your Patron is so powerful it can now send a piece of itself to protect you. As an Action, you may summon your Patron in a Space within 5ft of you. It may not be targeted by an attacking or spell, and it automatically succeeds on spell saves. It takes it’s turn on your initiative. The Patron goes away after an Hour, after your concentration is broken, or after Combat is over, whichever comes first. As an Action, the Patron may target a Creature you can see within 90ft of you. The target must make a Constitution save against your spell save DC or be transported to the realm of your Patron, and it will come back in 3 rounds. After it comes back, it has taken 8d12 force damage, and if it is still alive, it will die in 2d4 turns. When this creature dies, you gain a bonus to your Hit Points and Hit Points maximum equal to the creature’s Hit Point maximum. This lasts until your Patron disappears. Your patron can do this a number of times equal to your Constitution Modifier, and disappears after it can’t do this anymore.
You gain this ability back after a long rest.
So, how is it? Is there anything I should do to balance it? I’m open to suggestions!
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Quick thought, shouldn't you include spells like conjure volley or swift quiver on the expanded spell list if this subclass is supposed to be a ranged weapons specialist?
Well, after some people were to help me with this, I was going to try to actually make it in the builder. So, for the expanded spell list, I only chose from the Basic Rules, as that’s all you can have. I would’ve included them, definitely, if it were possible to still build it that way.
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Alright, how about this:
A feature that allows you to cast an action spell as part of your Attack with a ranged weapon? Then you get more options that are related to the use of ranged weapons.
Hm... I was looking for better ideas for the Parasitic Power trait. Maybe this could be good?
’In addition, whenever you attack a creature with a Ranged Weapon Attack, you may use a Bonus Action to cast a spell with a casting time of 1 Action.’
That good? So you can both attack from afar and blast your opponent with spells, but you can’t multi class into Wizard and just spam Fireball after every Crossbow attack with your Pact of the Blade boon.
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Sounds good, are you going to do the same restriction as Eldrith Knight where, at first it's only Cantrips then later regular spells, or not? Honestly, I think it would be okay not to have that restriction for this.
Yeah, due to the limited spell slots and limit on Ranged Attacks, it’s probably best not to have a restriction.
Meanwhile, what does everyone think about features other than what we’re talking about? Maybe help with the ones already there?
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Sounds alright. Spells are good, and thematic. I like it. But I certainly can’t balance it. I don’t know how to do so. I’m not good at that stuff :)
The lv1 trait seems too overpowered to me - it essentially gives you a +2 magical weapon (assuming 16+ dex, which isn't uncommon I'd imagine) as a starting adventurer. If the warlock has loaded their highest stat into dex than they've got a +5 modifier and a +3 weapon on hand. Is your edit above about a bonus-action spell instead of this option? That might work as a once-per-rest ability maybe.
True, the option above is supposed to be a replacement for that, yes. Now, if you don’t mind me asking, why would you say it needs to be once per rest? It already either uses a spell slot (that of which is very limited) or a cantrip.
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Mainly due to Eldritch blast - being able to do 1 range + 1 blast every turn seems huge for level 1. And by level 5 that eldritch blast gets double as effective.
Hmm.... how about this?
’In addition, whenever you attack a creature with a Ranged Weapon Attack, you may use a Bonus Action to cast a spell with a casting time of 1 Action. If this spell can target multiple targets, it may only target one, and only send out 1 damaging effect. For example, if you cast Eldritch Blast at 5th level or Magic Missile, it may only fire one beam or dart.’
Doe stat make it better, or is it still unbalanced or bad?
Personally, it now sounds a lot like that Death Cleric feature that lets you send a spell at another target within 5ft, but better.
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Hey there,
I think your subclass is pretty interesting but overpowered and unbalanced. Part of what you may be struggling with is that your class features either reinforce that a parasite is giving the character power OR that this is a ranged combatant, not that this is a ranged combatant empowered by a parasite.
Changing any class’s primary ability score to CHA, especially a spellcaster, is going to be overpowered. It removes the need to balance survivability with offense and defense. There’s nothing wrong with having subclass features key off of it, but I don’t know that it’s necessary for a ranged combatant. Instead I would start with an ability similar to the Hexblade’s:
The 6th level doesn’t really feel like an ability. I’d relegate the familiar option to a “sidebar”, fold the Pact of the Blade into the 1st level feature and then develop a feature that applies across the subclass. A reasonable feature to add here would be Extra Attack, which with a long bow and 18 in CHA does an average of 8.5 extra damage per turn. The Hexblade can summon a specter which does an extra 10 damage per turn, so 8-10 seems like a good range to balance things against. If you like the idea of Kingly Knowledge upcasting a spell by one level generally adds 1 extra damage die. Consider fireball, assuming that it hits an average of 6 creatures (https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/325-why-run-combat-in-the-theater-of-the-mind) a fireball upcast 1 level does an average of 21 extra points of damage, which means you should be able to upcast somewhere in the realm of 3 times every 7 turns, or roughly 45%. If you use a CHA (Arcana) assuming proficiency in Arcana and an 18 CHA the DC comes out to 16. Here could be an interesting place to explore a “secondary" ability score. You could lower the DC but require a ability check based on a different score, this makes a player chose between a highe spell attack/damage bonus and save DC or the ability to upcast more often. I’d probably change the name (Kingly Knowledge doesn’t seem very parasite-y) and have it use an action with the cost of failure being that you lose that action rather than a spell slot. I’m sure this can use some more balancing but at least you can see where I’m coming from. Some other things to consider:
Aberration Escape is exactly what you want. You’re not a melee fighter, when you get hit, get the f out of there! I’d say 4-5 times per long rest @ 10+ levelsis pretty equal to 2-3 (2-3 short rest/long rest) per long rest at 6th level. Just for fun, consider making it more powerful, and leaving it at once per short rest.
The capstone is complicated, 12d8 is completely in line with the 10d10 Hurl Through Hell does. The automatic death, even with a save, in 2d4 rounds is completely over powered, especially when combined with the ability to get HP and increase your HP maximum by an amount of that of a creature that can potentially survive 12d8 of damage, even if it requires concentration. Consider it against The Celestial (who’s capstone also allows you to regain HP and deal damage, but only happens when you make a death save) which only allows you to regain half your HP and only do 2d8 + CHA mod damage. If you want to deal damage and regain HP I’d use The Celestial capstone as a model. If you just want to deal damage stick with the 12d8, but only take them out of combat for 1 round. You could also consider an AOE/multiple target capstone, which I don’t think any other subclass has and feels appropriate to a the idea of a ranged weapon Warlock., similar to the Hunter Ranger’s volley. Maybe something built off of [Tooltip Not Found] since it’s a 6th level spell like harm which does similar damage to Hurl Through Hell.
My apologies if this comes off as brusque. I accidentally erased my post 3/4 of the way through and have only regurgitated the salient points.
Alright, that was a long post, one sec........
Thank you for responding! I’m looking to balance this out. Thank you very much for the input.
Personally, I didn’t want just a clone of Hexblade when I made this. Trust me, I wrote the exact same thing and then erased it over. Now, when you say CHA, I assume you mean CON, as that’s what it was changed to.
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.Spread the Larva: Once per turn you are able deal poison damage to a target you hit with a ranged attack, this damage is equal to you Warlock level and ignores resistance to poison damage. (I haven’t done the math but this should somewhat scale with Eldritch Blast. Many more creatures have resistance and immunity to poison damage than force so maybe psychic is better, but poison feels appropriate to a parasite.)
(Spoilers from now on because it’s easier than quoting and erasing) This ability suggestion is good. I like it. Simple, easy, and good. Just one thing I don’t like. The traits say Parasite, but Bug Parasite. When I was writing the Flavor text, I wrote it as ‘A Demon possession or some Abberation Infested Water’. Spread the larva just feels to bug like for these examples. But hey, i’ll Think about something
The 6th level doesn’t really feel like an ability. I’d relegate the familiar option to a “sidebar”, fold the Pact of the Blade into the 1st level feature and then develop a feature that applies across the subclass. A reasonable feature to add here would be Extra Attack, which with a long bow and 18 in CHA does an average of 8.5 extra damage per turn. The Hexblade can summon a specter which does an extra 10 damage per turn, so 8-10 seems like a good range to balance things against. If you like the idea of Kingly Knowledge upcasting a spell by one level generally adds 1 extra damage die. Consider fireball, assuming that it hits an average of 6 creatures (https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/325-why-run-combat-in-the-theater-of-the-mind) a fireball upcast 1 level does an average of 21 extra points of damage, which means you should be able to upcast somewhere in the realm of 3 times every 7 turns, or roughly 45%. If you use a CHA (Arcana) assuming proficiency in Arcana and an 18 CHA the DC comes out to 16. Here could be an interesting place to explore a “secondary" ability score. You could lower the DC but require a ability check based on a different score, this makes a player chose between a highe spell attack/damage bonus and save DC or the ability to upcast more often. I’d probably change the name (Kingly Knowledge doesn’t seem very parasite-y) and have it use an action with the cost of failure being that you lose that action rather than a spell slot. I’m sure this can use some more balancing but at least you can see where I’m coming from. Some other things to consider:
Extra Attack
Whenever you use an action to can as spell you can use a bonus action to make a ranged weapon attack, this attack can’t benefit from your Spread the Larva feature.Extended Signature! Yay! https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/off-topic/adohands-kitchen/3153-extended-signature-thread?page=2#c21
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A very minor thing, but given that this is meant to be a patron, it should just be called "The Parasite"
Pact of the Chain, Pact of the Blade, and Pact of the Tome are a separate set of abilities for warlocks available to all of them regardless of which patron they choose. So I think calling it "Pact of the Parasite" makes it sound more like a part of that Warlock feature rather than as a separate Patron subclass.
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Sorry for the late response (and for all the typos, that CHA was definitely supposed to be CON 😬) it’s been a busy week. Hopefully this is moot and you’ve worked out something you and your player are enjoying! If not I will also be lazy and just talk, since I’m finally getting to sit down with a cup of coffee.
-Parasitic Power: I totally get that you don’t want a Hexblade clone, but if you want a ranged weapon warlock I feel like they should be proficient with ranged weapons and be able to use their CHA mod (which Hexblades can’t do unless they take the Pact of the Blade and an invocation or get a magic ranged weapon, if that helps it feel more unique.) You could probably remove the whole touch one weapon after a long rest Hexblade mechanic and just use the CHA mod with all ranged weapons without being to OP. I am curious to see if you’ve come up with something different though?
-“Spread the Larva”: Glad you like it, but on further reflection this should require some kind of roll, while at 17th level Eldritch Blast can do an average of 22 (+20 with an invocation) points of damage vs. 26.5 with this feature it requires 4 attack rolls vs. 1 attack roll. If you stick with poison damage a CON save may work, if you’ve changed the damage to fit your lore better maybe a different stat is better.
-Kingly Knowledge: I may be misunderstanding you ("So, no you couldn’t do it repeatedly..."), I am a bit groggy. It may have gotten lost in all the text about how I got there, but I don’t think upcasting a spell by one level is super powerful and you should be able to do it more often with less consequence than you initially suggested.
Regardless, I hope the balancing is going well and I’d be interested to see what you settle on for a capstone and how it all ends up!
Cheers
OK Then!!!
Now, I am Discarding the Parasite Patron. I dot enjoy it. While it is a great theme, it could be used for something else, such as Ghost Possession features or Poison Damage immunity, things like that. Being a Rmaged-Proficiency patron didn't fit. So, here's what I have come up with now:
Elemental Patron
The Elemental Planes have many cultists, followers, or subjects. Many of the creatures that inhabit these planes are called elementals; beings of magic, given life by the elements that make the planes themselves. Creatures that would grant this pact would be powerful elementals, such as Ogrémoch, a Leviathan,a [/monster]Djinni[/monster], or a Phoenix. A Warlock of the Elemental may have taken a pact on their terms in exchange for releasing it, or killing a powerful rival elemental. Whatever the case, they are granted powers beyond them, control over the elements that shape reality.
Expanded Spell List
The elements now power through you, granting you magic unlike any other. The following spells are added to the Warlock spell list for you.
1st. Chromatic Orb, Absorb Elements
2nd.Dust Devil, Warding Wind
3rd.Lightning Bolt , Elemental Weapon
4th.Wall of Fire, Conjure Minor Elementals
5th.Maelstrom, Destructive Wave
Elemental Bane
At level 1, when you choose this patron, the power of the elements around you allow for more powerful ranged attacks. You gain proficiency with all Ranged Weapons. You may use Charisma instead of Dexterity for Ranged weapons.
In addition, when you hit with a Ranged Weapon attack, you may deal an extra 1d6 damage. Choose between the 4 elements listed below; these will determine future features and the damage done by this feature.
Water: Cold Damage
Earth: Acid Damage
Air:Thunder Damage
Fire: Fire Damage
This damage increases by one die at 5th level(2d6), 11th level(3d6), and 17th level(4d6).
Elemental Escape
At level 6, your mastery upon Elements can now be used to prevent harm. Depending on the element you chose in the level 1 feature, you gain the following trait:
Water: as a reaction, when a creature hits you with a melee attack, you may roll 1d10. Subtract the number you rolled from the monsters attack roll. This calculation can turn a hit into a miss. This can be done a total of times equal to your Charisma Modifier per Long rest.
Earth: As a reaction, when a creature hits you with a melee attack, roll the total damage dice used in the attack against you. The attacker takes damage equal to the amount you rolled, ignoring Resistance and Immunity. This can be done a total of times equal to your Charisma Modifier per Long rest.
Air: You gain a Flying Speed equal to your Walking Speed. In addition, as a reaction to having a creature end it's turn within 10 feet of you, you may fly up to your movement away without provoking oppurtunity attacks. This can be done a total of times equal to your Charisma Modifier per Long rest.
Fire: As a reaction, when a creature attacks you with a melee attack, you may exhale smoke, Heavily Obscuring you and every space within 5ft of you. You may see through this smoke, and it lasts until the end of your next turn. You may do this a number of times equal to your Charisma Modifier per Long Rest.
Elemental Nature
At level 10, your patron bestows upon you powers that twist the nature of your soul, making it more like an elemental's. You no longer have to eat, sleep, or drink, and magic cant put you to sleep, though can still gain the benefits and drawback's of potions and poisons, and still require rest to get rid of exhaustion. In addition, based on your chosen element, you gain the following trait:
Water: You gain resistance to Cold damage. At level 14, this becomes Immunity, and you instead heal whatever damage you were supposed to take.
Earth: You gain resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage. At level 14, this becomes Immunity, and you instead heal whatever damage you were supposed to take.
Air: You gain resistance to Lightning damage. At level 14, this becomes Immunity, and you instead heal whatever damage you were supposed to take.
Fire: You gain resistance to Fire damage. At level 14, this becomes Immunity, and you instead heal whatever damage you were supposed to take.
Devastation of the Planes
At level 14, you have become powerful enough to command forces stronger than you, using their powers to alter reality. You may spend 10 minutes and 2 spell slots to create a Devastation Orb. If you create more than 1, the first one dissapears, unretreivable. In addition, Depending on your chosen element, you gain the following trait:
Water: As an action, you may choose one creature within 90 ft of you. The creauture must make a Constitution save equal to your spell save DC. On a success, nothing happens. On a failure, they are transported to the Elemental Plane of Water until the end of your next turn. there, they take 5d10 Lightning damage and 5d10 Cold damage, then return.
Earth: As an action, you may choose one creature within 90 ft of you. The creauture must make a strength save equal to your spell save DC. On a success, nothing happens. On a failure, they are transported to the Elemental Plane of Earth until the end of your next turn. there, they take 5d10 Poison and 5d10 Necrotic damage, then return.
Air: As an action, you may choose one creature within 90 ft of you. The creauture must make a Charisma save equal to your spell save DC. On a success, nothing happens. On a failure, they are transported to the Elemental Plane of Air until the end of your next turn. there, they take 5d10 Thunder damage and 5d10 Bludgeoning damage, then return.
Fire: As an action, you may choose one creature within 90 ft of you. The creauture must make a Charisma save equal to your spell save DC. On a success, nothing happens. On a failure, they are transported to the Elemental Plane of Fire until the end of your next turn. there, they take 5d10 Fire damage and 5d10 Necrotic damage, then return.
So... Balancing suggestions, anyone?
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Lv 1) The ranged weapon thing doesn't make sense at all here. Make it so that spells of their matching elemental type do additional damage, perhaps with the precursor that cantrips don't count/spell slots are needed, which limits its OP-ness. (or make it d4 rather than d6 maybe). Alternatively you could make it so Eldritch Blast matches their chosen type and not give it any buffs (as they can use their incantations to buff it as they please).
Lv 6) Seems OK, assuming that it is "once per short rest" like the Archfey Misty Escape ability rather than CHA modifier.
Lv 10) The resistance stuff is fine, but the immunity AND healing at level 14 is absolutely insane - especially for Earth aligned patrons.
Lv 14) Assuming this is riffing off of The Fiend's similar ability, I would make this 10d10 of the matching element rather than odd pairs.
Kinda sad, but you automatically failed at this homebrew because you spelled ‘elemental’ wrong.
Fixed :)
Once again, made it with the original intention of not having to spam Eldritch Bast, and instead use ranged weapons. I described it as ‘Using the Elements to power your ranged attacks further’.... did I? Well, that's how I would describe it. It’s basically a modified Sneak Attack- with it always there and having worse level up coverage, but it uses Elemental damage instead of piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning.
Yeah, should probably make it that.... I see how it can be abused.
Hmm.. I liked it, but it can be abused. How would healing coming later- maybe 16, 18, or 20?- sound? And you only get 1 element, so if you chose earth at the beginning, you only get the earth features.
It is based off of the Fiend’s, yes. I have it like that so that A) If something has immunity to one damage, it doesn’t to the other (Maybe). B) Because I wanted it to be different. However, I would enjoy someone suggesting some other level 14 ability, as I feel this one is too close to the fiend’s.
Anyone else got Suggestions? I’m open to them.
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