Good morning, everybody. This is my first time posting a thread here. Anyways, I'm a new GM and am prepping my Ghost of Saltmarsh campaign. This will technically be my 2nd campaign to run and learned alot about balance in my first (aka - handed out too many magic items for "coolness" sake).
To the point: I want an npc to have the ability to tattoo a spell on a pc. I'm thinking only 1 npc in the world can do it. It will be expensive. Also, I was thinking that since there are no components, the spell is basically powered by your own will/life force/etc. So I was thinking... to cast a tattoo spell (only sorcerer spells?), you take a point of exhaustion for the spell's level (cantrip and 1st = 1 pt, 2nd = 2pt, etc). Removed at a long rest.
Could this be balanced? Should I roll from the Short Term Madness chart, instead?
Well, exhaustion isn't a bad downside to it, but I think it would be fun if it's considered a form of wild Sorcery, so when used treat it as a spell cast by a wild sorcerer (roll a d20, on a 1 they have to roll on the wild sorcery table). Maybe higher level spells have a higher chance of requiring a wild sorcery roll. The Wild Sorcery table is fun, but it's kind of intimidating for a lot of players to take it on a dedicated wild sorcerer, so having just one spell that risks triggering it could be more fun.
Alternatively, the only other resource I think you could spend is to have it cost actual hit points to use. Maybe just take 1 damage for a cantrip, then increase the damage to larger die for each spell level above that.
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Thank for the feedback! I had considered hp but thought exhaustion or short term madness would be cool as this will be a very heavy rp campaign. May also severely limit how many tattoos a pc can get.
Hhmmm... actually , the hp thing could have a cool blood-mage effect.
Good morning, everybody. This is my first time posting a thread here. Anyways, I'm a new GM and am prepping my Ghost of Saltmarsh campaign. This will technically be my 2nd campaign to run and learned alot about balance in my first (aka - handed out too many magic items for "coolness" sake).
To the point: I want an npc to have the ability to tattoo a spell on a pc. I'm thinking only 1 npc in the world can do it. It will be expensive. Also, I was thinking that since there are no components, the spell is basically powered by your own will/life force/etc. So I was thinking... to cast a tattoo spell (only sorcerer spells?), you take a point of exhaustion for the spell's level (cantrip and 1st = 1 pt, 2nd = 2pt, etc). Removed at a long rest.
Could this be balanced? Should I roll from the Short Term Madness chart, instead?
Thoughts? Comments? Critiques?
Well, exhaustion isn't a bad downside to it, but I think it would be fun if it's considered a form of wild Sorcery, so when used treat it as a spell cast by a wild sorcerer (roll a d20, on a 1 they have to roll on the wild sorcery table). Maybe higher level spells have a higher chance of requiring a wild sorcery roll. The Wild Sorcery table is fun, but it's kind of intimidating for a lot of players to take it on a dedicated wild sorcerer, so having just one spell that risks triggering it could be more fun.
Alternatively, the only other resource I think you could spend is to have it cost actual hit points to use. Maybe just take 1 damage for a cantrip, then increase the damage to larger die for each spell level above that.
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Take a look at Aberrant Dragonmark feat it basically does the same thing you're suggesting.
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Thank for the feedback! I had considered hp but thought exhaustion or short term madness would be cool as this will be a very heavy rp campaign. May also severely limit how many tattoos a pc can get.
Hhmmm... actually , the hp thing could have a cool blood-mage effect.
Aberrant Dragonmark? Thanks! I'll have to take a look.