I've been working on a few things here and there for my first foray into the Wizard class; I've decided to go with the School of Illusion because it suits the way I would like to play my toon the best. Namely something I have been working towards is an Illusion Cantrip that will not mistakenly fall under the umbrella of some other school of magic such as Evocation. Thematically I am trying to avoid the more ostentatious spells because, ironically, the toon I'll be playing is not into jaunting and flashy spell-slinging. The descriptor I'm using needs a little work, but I am hoping to gain constructive feedback from the DDB community on this so I can balance it out further down the line. The inspiration for this cantrip came from Eldritch Blast and Firebolt's level scaling, and I plan on utilizing descriptor features from other Illusion spells to assist in the variety by which players can describe the spell during play. So before I get too much further...
Illusory Orbs of Annihilation
Level: Cantrip
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range/Area: 120 ft
Components: Verbal, Somatic
Duration: Instantaneous
Class Restriction: Wizard
School Restriction: School of Illusion
Attack/Save: Ranged
Damage/Effect: Psychic (subject to change but seems to be the popular damage type)
An illusory orb manifests in your hand, becoming tangible once it is cast. The image of the orb takes on the form of something which the target can make sense of; a murderous raven, a large stone, a thrown blade, or anything which will help justify its means to damage the target. As the fear seeds itself in their mind make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 psychic damage + your spellcasting modifier.
The spell creates more than one orb when you reach higher levels: two orbs at 5th level, three orbs at 11th level, four orbs at 17th level, and five orbs at 20th level. You can direct the orbs at the same target or at different ones. Make a separate attack roll for each orb regardless of whether it is targeting one creature or several, then add your modifier to each separate hit.
When you score a critical hit with an orb, you automatically do maximum damage on the initial damage die. Roll the orb's damage die one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.
EDITS for Current Suggestions:
- Drop level 20 boost.
- Drop Crit Damage buff.
- Add Condition effect which will activate on a critical hit of 20 on the d20 only (requires save).
- Saving throw can be Wis or Int (likely Int to give it a unique vibe)
- Potential damage-split based on save outcomes: d6 on successful save, d10 on failed
I'll have to do a bit more looking into this, but as of now this cantrip is over tuned. just from a first glance, I'd drop the level 20 upgrade because cantrip don't get a level 20 boost, and drop the crit damage bonus because the damage itself is already stronger then DB and FB, plus with a more potent damage type.
I'll have to do a bit more looking into this, but as of now this cantrip is over tuned. just from a first glance, I'd drop the level 20 upgrade because cantrip don't get a level 20 boost, and drop the crit damage bonus because the damage itself is already stronger then DB and FB, plus with a more potent damage type.
I will take this under advisement! I will be honest I just tossed in that level 20 boost because I brought the d10 damage down to a d8. I think, however, that the average damage with the modifier included will give it about the same damage output. The Crit damage bonus I think I worded incorrectly now that I keep looking at it. I used a copy-paste from another feature. The Damage will still be 2d8 + ability modifier (once) on crit.
Yeah, the ability modifier being added to the cantrip damage by default makes this very strong. Spells which do that naturally are a rarity.
Also, I second dropping the buff at 20. plenty of other cantrips do d8 damage, so the fact that psychic is a rare damage type should balance that out.
Thank you.
A few things:
Would it be more amenable to drop the ability modifier bonus entirely since this is a cantrip?
Should I could keep the damage dice at d8, or push them up to d10's if I drop the ability modifier?
Would it make more sense to have a split-damage, like Toll the Dead? (I was pmed about this)
What is an appropriate damage split for Psychic damage, because of its rarity/being resisted the least (sans UA)?
I chose psychic because that is the type of damage the other Illusion spells deal (one deals acid) and thematically liked to keep that the same. Would changing the damage type be a worthwhile consideration? Perhaps choose a different type of damage each time it is cast since, thematically, they are illusory and can take on the appearance of nearly anything? (this was also pmed to me)
Psychic is probably the best damage type for this spell.
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Nah, d8 and sticking with psychic works if there's no additional effect (see below as well though). Dropping the ability mod is just bringing it inline with every other cantrip which isn't dealing damage in a weird way. The [Tooltip Not Found] deals d6 but has an additional effect built in to the spell itself.
Also, I just realised that I didn't mention anything about the crit effect previously (my bad). The crit effect is sort of like a common house rule where people just take max damage then roll dice to add to it. I'd either leave it as a d8 with no additional effect, or potentially put something else in there as a crit effect such as a save vs frightened or blinded until the start/end of your next turn but drop the damage to d6.
Nah, d8 and sticking with psychic works if there's no additional effect (see below as well though). Dropping the ability mod is just bringing it inline with every other cantrip which isn't dealing damage in a weird way. The Mind Sliver (UA) deals d6 but has an additional effect built in to the spell itself.
Also, I just realised that I didn't mention anything about the crit effect previously (my bad). The crit effect is sort of like a common house rule where people just take max damage then roll dice to add to it. I'd either leave it as a d8 with no additional effect, or potentially put something else in there as a crit effect such as a save vs frightened or blinded until the start/end of your next turn but drop the damage to d6.
Most of the tables I've played at have you roll the damage dice two times when you crit, instead of taking max damage once and rolling the damage dice an additional time. That is initially why I put it in there, but I see your point, it is a bit extraneous.
I do like the idea of placing an additional effect on the cantrip if it does critically hit the target! Frightened is a very good option which I may consider that as an addition to the cantrip's balance (via saving throw). Something that falls in line with a mentally debilitating effect does have a sweet appeal to it.
Here's my thoughts on this... Giving the spell a d8 psychic damage that can be split among multiple targets is pretty nasty for a cantrip. So here's what came to mind for me, although it is a bit complicated to roll for a cantrip... I think it would be good to add a wisdom saving throw to this spell. The spell would still require landing a ranged spell attack first. Then the target makes a wisdom saving throw. If they succeed the damage is a d6 (to represent them not falling for the illusion) but if they fail it's a d10.
Adds some risk/reward to the spell with the least resisted damage type... So it has the potential to be as good or better than Eldritch blast, but still balanced to work for other casters who aren't expected to rely on a specific cantrip.
The d8 is fine, everyone already said all the other stuff I would have said except my idea for the crit is that if you do crit they should take an INT save (to realize it was an illusion) or be frightened until the end of your next turn.
INT saves are pretty rare so that would also set this apart from other spells and it fits with the rest of the spell too.
The d8 is fine, everyone already said all the other stuff I would have said except my idea for the crit is that if you do crit they should take an INT save (to realize it was an illusion) or be frightened until the end of your next turn.
INT saves are pretty rare so that would also set this apart from other spells and it fits with the rest of the spell too.
I like that a lot more than my earlier suggestion. It pairs well with the spell firing more attacks as the character levels up.
Here's my thoughts on this... Giving the spell a d8 psychic damage that can be split among multiple targets is pretty nasty for a cantrip. So here's what came to mind for me, although it is a bit complicated to roll for a cantrip... I think it would be good to add a wisdom saving throw to this spell. The spell would still require landing a ranged spell attack first. Then the target makes a wisdom saving throw. If they succeed the damage is a d6 (to represent them not falling for the illusion) but if they fail it's a d10.
Adds some risk/reward to the spell with the least resisted damage type... So it has the potential to be as good or better than Eldritch blast, but still balanced to work for other casters who aren't expected to rely on a specific cantrip.
I get what you're putting down and appreciate the input! This idea had crossed my mind when I was creating the spell; I was looking to do a cross between Ray of Sickness and Toll the Dead originally. Combining a ranged damage-on-hit and a save throw (at the end) which could increase the damage depending on certain conditions being met. But as you mentioned it did seem to be slightly more complex than it should be. I do like that I feel it wasn't wrong to consider it however.
The d8 is fine, everyone already said all the other stuff I would have said except my idea for the crit is that if you do crit they should take an INT save (to realize it was an illusion) or be frightened until the end of your next turn.
INT saves are pretty rare so that would also set this apart from other spells and it fits with the rest of the spell too.
Believe it or not when I took into consideration the frightened condition for the crit my first thought was, "I should put this as Intelligence." namely because it will set it apart from the others! Hahaha!
Everyone has given me many options to consider so far, and all of this input has been extremely valuable! Thanks so far for the constructive criticism!
With some of the suggestions I've been given, this is the newer version of the Cantrip so far. Again, I sincerely appreciate the input y'all!
Illusory Orbs of Annihilation
Level: Cantrip
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range/Area: 120 ft
Components: Verbal, Somatic
Duration: Instantaneous
Class Restriction: Wizard
School Restriction: School of Illusion
Attack/Save: Ranged
Damage/Effect: Psychic
You craft an illusory orb that seeds in the mind of your target. They are so assured of the illusion's reality that they convince themselves it is of a hazard that could logically deal damage, such as by attacking. Make a ranged [Tooltip Not Found] against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 Psychic Damage
The spell creates more than one orb when you reach higher levels: two orbs at 5th level, three orbs at 11th level, and four orbs at 17th level. You can direct the orbs at the same target or at different ones. Make a separate attack roll for each orb regardless of whether it is targeting one creature or several.
On a Critical Hit of 20 on the d20, the illusion takes root in the mind of the creature. The target must make an IntelligenceSaving Throw. On a failed save, the target is Frightened of you until the end of your next turn. On a successful save, the target takes the damage as normal but suffers no other effect.
Seems good to me. If I had to add or change anything then I might include a small snippet like, if the creature succeeds the the saving throw, then they can't be frightened by this spell for [X duration], for those situations where multiple crits happen in one casting on a single creature, but that might be a little much and just me overthinking this.
Seems good to me. If I had to add or change anything then I might include a small snippet like, if the creature succeeds the the saving throw, then they can't be frightened by this spell for [X duration], for those situations where multiple crits happen in one casting on a single creature, but that might be a little much and just me overthinking this.
That's not a bad idea. Probably something like the first saving throw determines the outcome for all critical hits on one target, in the event one creature is Crit multiple times in a turn. I will confer with my players to see what they think a reasonable amount of time for immunization to the condition is.
I don't see a problem with the wording as-is. The Frightened condition doesn't stack, so they're not double-frightened if they get hit by two crits in one round. Whether they're hit with one crit or 4, they're still only frightened until the end of the caster's next turn.
I've been working on a few things here and there for my first foray into the Wizard class; I've decided to go with the School of Illusion because it suits the way I would like to play my toon the best. Namely something I have been working towards is an Illusion Cantrip that will not mistakenly fall under the umbrella of some other school of magic such as Evocation. Thematically I am trying to avoid the more ostentatious spells because, ironically, the toon I'll be playing is not into jaunting and flashy spell-slinging. The descriptor I'm using needs a little work, but I am hoping to gain constructive feedback from the DDB community on this so I can balance it out further down the line. The inspiration for this cantrip came from Eldritch Blast and Firebolt's level scaling, and I plan on utilizing descriptor features from other Illusion spells to assist in the variety by which players can describe the spell during play. So before I get too much further...
Illusory Orbs of Annihilation
Level: Cantrip
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range/Area: 120 ft
Components: Verbal, Somatic
Duration: Instantaneous
Class Restriction: Wizard
School Restriction: School of Illusion
Attack/Save: Ranged
Damage/Effect: Psychic (subject to change but seems to be the popular damage type)
An illusory orb manifests in your hand, becoming tangible once it is cast. The image of the orb takes on the form of something which the target can make sense of; a murderous raven, a large stone, a thrown blade, or anything which will help justify its means to damage the target. As the fear seeds itself in their mind make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 psychic damage + your spellcasting modifier.
The spell creates more than one orb when you reach higher levels: two orbs at 5th level, three orbs at 11th level, four orbs at 17th level, and five orbs at 20th level. You can direct the orbs at the same target or at different ones. Make a separate attack roll for each orb regardless of whether it is targeting one creature or several, then add your modifier to each separate hit.
When you score a critical hit with an orb, you automatically do maximum damage on the initial damage die. Roll the orb's damage die one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.
EDITS for Current Suggestions:
- Drop level 20 boost.
- Drop Crit Damage buff.
- Add Condition effect which will activate on a critical hit of 20 on the d20 only (requires save).
- Saving throw can be Wis or Int (likely Int to give it a unique vibe)
- Potential damage-split based on save outcomes: d6 on successful save, d10 on failed
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Chief Innovationist, Acquisitions Inc. The Series 2
Successfully completed the Tomb of Horrors module (as part of playing Tomb of Annihilation) with no party deaths!
I'll have to do a bit more looking into this, but as of now this cantrip is over tuned. just from a first glance, I'd drop the level 20 upgrade because cantrip don't get a level 20 boost, and drop the crit damage bonus because the damage itself is already stronger then DB and FB, plus with a more potent damage type.
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I will take this under advisement! I will be honest I just tossed in that level 20 boost because I brought the d10 damage down to a d8. I think, however, that the average damage with the modifier included will give it about the same damage output. The Crit damage bonus I think I worded incorrectly now that I keep looking at it. I used a copy-paste from another feature. The Damage will still be 2d8 + ability modifier (once) on crit.
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Chief Innovationist, Acquisitions Inc. The Series 2
Successfully completed the Tomb of Horrors module (as part of playing Tomb of Annihilation) with no party deaths!
Yeah, the ability modifier being added to the cantrip damage by default makes this very strong. Spells which do that naturally are a rarity.
Also, I second dropping the buff at 20. plenty of other cantrips do d8 damage, so the fact that psychic is a rare damage type should balance that out.
Please take a look at my homebrewed Spells, Magic Items, and Subclasses. Any feedback appreciated.
Thank you.
A few things:
Would it be more amenable to drop the ability modifier bonus entirely since this is a cantrip?
Should I could keep the damage dice at d8, or push them up to d10's if I drop the ability modifier?
Would it make more sense to have a split-damage, like Toll the Dead? (I was pmed about this)
What is an appropriate damage split for Psychic damage, because of its rarity/being resisted the least (sans UA)?
I chose psychic because that is the type of damage the other Illusion spells deal (one deals acid) and thematically liked to keep that the same. Would changing the damage type be a worthwhile consideration? Perhaps choose a different type of damage each time it is cast since, thematically, they are illusory and can take on the appearance of nearly anything? (this was also pmed to me)
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Chief Innovationist, Acquisitions Inc. The Series 2
Successfully completed the Tomb of Horrors module (as part of playing Tomb of Annihilation) with no party deaths!
Psychic is probably the best damage type for this spell.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
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Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
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If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Nah, d8 and sticking with psychic works if there's no additional effect (see below as well though). Dropping the ability mod is just bringing it inline with every other cantrip which isn't dealing damage in a weird way. The [Tooltip Not Found] deals d6 but has an additional effect built in to the spell itself.
Also, I just realised that I didn't mention anything about the crit effect previously (my bad). The crit effect is sort of like a common house rule where people just take max damage then roll dice to add to it. I'd either leave it as a d8 with no additional effect, or potentially put something else in there as a crit effect such as a save vs frightened or blinded until the start/end of your next turn but drop the damage to d6.
Please take a look at my homebrewed Spells, Magic Items, and Subclasses. Any feedback appreciated.
I believe so as well!
Most of the tables I've played at have you roll the damage dice two times when you crit, instead of taking max damage once and rolling the damage dice an additional time. That is initially why I put it in there, but I see your point, it is a bit extraneous.
I do like the idea of placing an additional effect on the cantrip if it does critically hit the target! Frightened is a very good option which I may consider that as an addition to the cantrip's balance (via saving throw). Something that falls in line with a mentally debilitating effect does have a sweet appeal to it.
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Chief Innovationist, Acquisitions Inc. The Series 2
Successfully completed the Tomb of Horrors module (as part of playing Tomb of Annihilation) with no party deaths!
Here's my thoughts on this... Giving the spell a d8 psychic damage that can be split among multiple targets is pretty nasty for a cantrip. So here's what came to mind for me, although it is a bit complicated to roll for a cantrip... I think it would be good to add a wisdom saving throw to this spell. The spell would still require landing a ranged spell attack first. Then the target makes a wisdom saving throw. If they succeed the damage is a d6 (to represent them not falling for the illusion) but if they fail it's a d10.
Adds some risk/reward to the spell with the least resisted damage type... So it has the potential to be as good or better than Eldritch blast, but still balanced to work for other casters who aren't expected to rely on a specific cantrip.
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The d8 is fine, everyone already said all the other stuff I would have said except my idea for the crit is that if you do crit they should take an INT save (to realize it was an illusion) or be frightened until the end of your next turn.
INT saves are pretty rare so that would also set this apart from other spells and it fits with the rest of the spell too.
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I like that a lot more than my earlier suggestion. It pairs well with the spell firing more attacks as the character levels up.
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I get what you're putting down and appreciate the input! This idea had crossed my mind when I was creating the spell; I was looking to do a cross between Ray of Sickness and Toll the Dead originally. Combining a ranged damage-on-hit and a save throw (at the end) which could increase the damage depending on certain conditions being met. But as you mentioned it did seem to be slightly more complex than it should be. I do like that I feel it wasn't wrong to consider it however.
Believe it or not when I took into consideration the frightened condition for the crit my first thought was, "I should put this as Intelligence." namely because it will set it apart from the others! Hahaha!
Everyone has given me many options to consider so far, and all of this input has been extremely valuable! Thanks so far for the constructive criticism!
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Chief Innovationist, Acquisitions Inc. The Series 2
Successfully completed the Tomb of Horrors module (as part of playing Tomb of Annihilation) with no party deaths!
Ah the food ol’ [Tooltip Not Found] condition. Gets ‘em every time. 😉 I do that all the time too.
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HAHA! Fixed.
Yeah uh...evidently Frightened isn't a spell. DERP!
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Chief Innovationist, Acquisitions Inc. The Series 2
Successfully completed the Tomb of Horrors module (as part of playing Tomb of Annihilation) with no party deaths!
Nope. Nor is “Fear” or “Feared” a condition (my correction from before) 😆
Please take a look at my homebrewed Spells, Magic Items, and Subclasses. Any feedback appreciated.
With some of the suggestions I've been given, this is the newer version of the Cantrip so far. Again, I sincerely appreciate the input y'all!
Illusory Orbs of Annihilation
Level: Cantrip
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range/Area: 120 ft
Components: Verbal, Somatic
Duration: Instantaneous
Class Restriction: Wizard
School Restriction: School of Illusion
Attack/Save: Ranged
Damage/Effect: Psychic
You craft an illusory orb that seeds in the mind of your target. They are so assured of the illusion's reality that they convince themselves it is of a hazard that could logically deal damage, such as by attacking. Make a ranged [Tooltip Not Found] against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 Psychic Damage
The spell creates more than one orb when you reach higher levels: two orbs at 5th level, three orbs at 11th level, and four orbs at 17th level. You can direct the orbs at the same target or at different ones. Make a separate attack roll for each orb regardless of whether it is targeting one creature or several.
On a Critical Hit of 20 on the d20, the illusion takes root in the mind of the creature. The target must make an Intelligence Saving Throw. On a failed save, the target is Frightened of you until the end of your next turn. On a successful save, the target takes the damage as normal but suffers no other effect.
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Chief Innovationist, Acquisitions Inc. The Series 2
Successfully completed the Tomb of Horrors module (as part of playing Tomb of Annihilation) with no party deaths!
Seems good to me. If I had to add or change anything then I might include a small snippet like, if the creature succeeds the the saving throw, then they can't be frightened by this spell for [X duration], for those situations where multiple crits happen in one casting on a single creature, but that might be a little much and just me overthinking this.
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That's not a bad idea. Probably something like the first saving throw determines the outcome for all critical hits on one target, in the event one creature is Crit multiple times in a turn. I will confer with my players to see what they think a reasonable amount of time for immunization to the condition is.
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Yeah, cause I can easily see it being once per round, until X minutes, or even the infamous after 24 hours.
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I don't see a problem with the wording as-is. The Frightened condition doesn't stack, so they're not double-frightened if they get hit by two crits in one round. Whether they're hit with one crit or 4, they're still only frightened until the end of the caster's next turn.
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