Anyone have any tips for making spells. I want to create a few unique for my sorcerer. He is a bit of a unique character and I wanted to know if anyone had anything I should keep in mind when creating spells.
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My name, is Balthazaar Cage! Savior of Ravenscrest, defender of the light, reincarnated chosen one of the gods, rightful ruler of all that can be seen and half of that which is unseen. If that's to long you may simply refer to me as "Sorcerer Supreme."
There is info in the DMG on creating custom spells (pg 283), most of the info is around Spell Damage or ensuring that it's not too OP. But going with a theme in mind is always a good idea.
Another way to start is to reskin an existing spell. For example, I have a Shadow Sorcerer that I'm about to play on Out of the Abyss. Because I want his spells to tie in thematically, I'm currently looking at changing Fireball to Shadowball - differences will be that when the small orb of shadow stuff explodes, it will only be a radius of 10 ft or 15 ft. (down from 20 ft), the damage to 6d6 necrotic (less enemies resistant compared to fire), and change the Saving throw to a Con from Dex (due to the type change). I'll probably get rid of the Material component for it, but haven't decided yet.
The main things to be wary of is creating a spell that blows away the rest of the same level, and ensuring it doesnt affect too many creatures, etc.
There are also online resources, like orcpub, that have tools for helping to create custom spells. I'd say decide on the level of spell, look at other spells of that level and try to balance it to them tbh
For spells that won't have damage rolls, consider what you want it to do. Things that need to be considered are casting time, components, duration, range, and hit dice level of the target.
If you want it to do something amazing, make it a high level spell, or nerf it out to a minimal of the full desired effect, and allow it to be cast at higher levels to approach your goal effect.
Lets say I want to be able to create a force based area of effect spell where the people in it are affected by gravity more heavily than normal, slowing them down, forcing them prone, or even crushing them under their own weight. Doing this in a 20 ft radius with enough force to hold them prone might be a level 7 spell. But if we start it at level 2, but only give a 5 ft radius and say it's creates difficult terrain and air to make a DC 12 check (STR) overcome it, then allow for casting at higher levels to alternate increasing the radius and intensity of the spell. Or even offer a trade off for the caster to choose, cast at a level that allows a 20 ft radius at the lowest intensity, or a 5 ft radius at a concentrated intensity. In the end, at higher levels you can have a vastly powerful spell, when you started with a spell that was annoying at best.
This is just spitballing of course. I didn't crack a single rule out to make this one,
I like the idea of the gravity spell. I don't think a spell "Doing this in a 20 ft radius with enough force to hold them prone might be a level 7 spell." would be that high level.
A low level version would be Entangle as a base. That causes 20ft radius is difficult ground and everyone inside could be restrained.
Replace with Prone and it shouldn't step on the Druid's toes to much, as Prone isn't nearly as bad as restrained.
Ok, but what if were wanting to, say, make a combination of two existing spells? Like Silent Image and Chromatic Orb (more it's varying effect trait than anything) to create an illusion that produces nothing more than a visual effect that, when approached (say, within a 10ft radius of it, which might can be cast to anywhere within sight), will apply the chosen effect. The affected target would be a Dexterity saving throw.
On a fail, it would apply one of three effects (sleep [3d8 in the style of the sleep spell on the affected target], shocking grasp [1d8 shock damage on the affected target], or shield on the affected target [+3 AC on the next attack against the affected target]). Maybe it'd a second level spell, since silent image is lvl 1 and all of the possible effects are lvl 1 or lower.
When casted at higher levels, up to spell lvl 6, each effect gains an added 1d8 to it's corresponding effect per lvl above 2 and the shield-like effect gains 1AC added to it's effect per lvl past 2. At spell level 7, it gains a Friends effect with a 60ft radius range (only applies on sight perception) where, if the affected target fails a Wisdom saving throw, they are forced to approach the illusion, (if it would take multiple turns to reach it, make a check each of the affected target's turns). All other effects still apply, even if they pass the Cha check, if the target enters the spells range.
Having that much variability makes adjudicating the appropriate level more difficult. I assume you mean for it to be randomized?
Consider prismatic wall. It has more variability (8), but they are all negatives. It's also a 9th level spell. The instantaneous cone version of it is a 7th level spell. If you want the randomness, you might want to consider Wild Magic sorcerer.
Also, there are a couple homebrew spells I can think of that have some similar effects: - Menson's Scintillating Wall - Irresistible Image
And if you really want a low level Prismatic Wall, maybe just use that spell as your base and scale it down rather than trying to create it from the ground up. Then ask yourself how it compares to other spells of similar level. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
I was more basing it off of chromatic orb and, seeing that all three of those effects are level 1 and even at level 3, I dampened the effectiveness of each effect. If I drop it too low though, it wouldn't be a valuable spell at three. No one would consider it until they could cast it at it's max power (if at all at that point). I figured the restraints of the circle would be a good balance with that- wait, what version of the spell are we talking about? I've tweaked it since then.
If you still want this, I know hit has been 4 years, you could try the graviturgy spell Magnify Gravity. It does nearly exactly that, although you would need your DM's permission if you are no Chronurgy or Graviturgy wizard.
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Anyone have any tips for making spells. I want to create a few unique for my sorcerer. He is a bit of a unique character and I wanted to know if anyone had anything I should keep in mind when creating spells.
My name, is Balthazaar Cage! Savior of Ravenscrest, defender of the light, reincarnated chosen one of the gods, rightful ruler of all that can be seen and half of that which is unseen. If that's to long you may simply refer to me as "Sorcerer Supreme."
There is info in the DMG on creating custom spells (pg 283), most of the info is around Spell Damage or ensuring that it's not too OP. But going with a theme in mind is always a good idea.
Another way to start is to reskin an existing spell. For example, I have a Shadow Sorcerer that I'm about to play on Out of the Abyss. Because I want his spells to tie in thematically, I'm currently looking at changing Fireball to Shadowball - differences will be that when the small orb of shadow stuff explodes, it will only be a radius of 10 ft or 15 ft. (down from 20 ft), the damage to 6d6 necrotic (less enemies resistant compared to fire), and change the Saving throw to a Con from Dex (due to the type change). I'll probably get rid of the Material component for it, but haven't decided yet.
The main things to be wary of is creating a spell that blows away the rest of the same level, and ensuring it doesnt affect too many creatures, etc.
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Wary the wizard who focuses on homebrew, for he can create nightmares that you wouldn't even dream of
There are also online resources, like orcpub, that have tools for helping to create custom spells. I'd say decide on the level of spell, look at other spells of that level and try to balance it to them tbh
For spells that won't have damage rolls, consider what you want it to do. Things that need to be considered are casting time, components, duration, range, and hit dice level of the target.
If you want it to do something amazing, make it a high level spell, or nerf it out to a minimal of the full desired effect, and allow it to be cast at higher levels to approach your goal effect.
Lets say I want to be able to create a force based area of effect spell where the people in it are affected by gravity more heavily than normal, slowing them down, forcing them prone, or even crushing them under their own weight. Doing this in a 20 ft radius with enough force to hold them prone might be a level 7 spell. But if we start it at level 2, but only give a 5 ft radius and say it's creates difficult terrain and air to make a DC 12 check (STR) overcome it, then allow for casting at higher levels to alternate increasing the radius and intensity of the spell. Or even offer a trade off for the caster to choose, cast at a level that allows a 20 ft radius at the lowest intensity, or a 5 ft radius at a concentrated intensity. In the end, at higher levels you can have a vastly powerful spell, when you started with a spell that was annoying at best.
This is just spitballing of course. I didn't crack a single rule out to make this one,
it could be worse, you could be on fire.
I like the idea of the gravity spell. I don't think a spell "Doing this in a 20 ft radius with enough force to hold them prone might be a level 7 spell." would be that high level.
A low level version would be Entangle as a base. That causes 20ft radius is difficult ground and everyone inside could be restrained.
Replace with Prone and it shouldn't step on the Druid's toes to much, as Prone isn't nearly as bad as restrained.
Tweak as you like, I was just messin around
it could be worse, you could be on fire.
Ok, but what if were wanting to, say, make a combination of two existing spells? Like Silent Image and Chromatic Orb (more it's varying effect trait than anything) to create an illusion that produces nothing more than a visual effect that, when approached (say, within a 10ft radius of it, which might can be cast to anywhere within sight), will apply the chosen effect. The affected target would be a Dexterity saving throw.
On a fail, it would apply one of three effects (sleep [3d8 in the style of the sleep spell on the affected target], shocking grasp [1d8 shock damage on the affected target], or shield on the affected target [+3 AC on the next attack against the affected target]). Maybe it'd a second level spell, since silent image is lvl 1 and all of the possible effects are lvl 1 or lower.
When casted at higher levels, up to spell lvl 6, each effect gains an added 1d8 to it's corresponding effect per lvl above 2 and the shield-like effect gains 1AC added to it's effect per lvl past 2. At spell level 7, it gains a Friends effect with a 60ft radius range (only applies on sight perception) where, if the affected target fails a Wisdom saving throw, they are forced to approach the illusion, (if it would take multiple turns to reach it, make a check each of the affected target's turns). All other effects still apply, even if they pass the Cha check, if the target enters the spells range.
Thoughts?
Having that much variability makes adjudicating the appropriate level more difficult. I assume you mean for it to be randomized?
Consider prismatic wall. It has more variability (8), but they are all negatives. It's also a 9th level spell. The instantaneous cone version of it is a 7th level spell. If you want the randomness, you might want to consider Wild Magic sorcerer.
Also, there are a couple homebrew spells I can think of that have some similar effects:
- Menson's Scintillating Wall
- Irresistible Image
And if you really want a low level Prismatic Wall, maybe just use that spell as your base and scale it down rather than trying to create it from the ground up. Then ask yourself how it compares to other spells of similar level. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
I was more basing it off of chromatic orb and, seeing that all three of those effects are level 1 and even at level 3, I dampened the effectiveness of each effect. If I drop it too low though, it wouldn't be a valuable spell at three. No one would consider it until they could cast it at it's max power (if at all at that point). I figured the restraints of the circle would be a good balance with that- wait, what version of the spell are we talking about? I've tweaked it since then.
Did you publish it? Name?
Please refrain from sparking up 2 year old threads. Create new threads with new questions, as this conversation had died.
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Yes, Artis's Circle Scribblings
what types of spells, do you like, and what magic state do want like offense, defense, or both, or something different?
If you still want this, I know hit has been 4 years, you could try the graviturgy spell Magnify Gravity. It does nearly exactly that, although you would need your DM's permission if you are no Chronurgy or Graviturgy wizard.