Hey, so I'm trying this out as one of my first upper level spells, It was inspired by taking aspects of Heat Metal, Chain Lightning, and Black Hole, and making a scale-able and potentially powerful spell at third level. It's more powerful the more enemies there are, but the multiple different aspects should make it more versatile, not just a one trick pony.
Please test it out, and see if it makes sense as written, or if it needs some tweeks to bump it up a bit, or nerf it bit for its levels. Your feed back is welcome and appreciated.
Oof... that's a really meaty spell for 3rd level. The Lightning damage is bad enough, but the fact that it slows enemies down based on other metal objects nearby, and also attracts more metal objects toward itself (basically guaranteeing the slowdown), and also spreads damage across all creatures caught by it (as opposed to Heat Metal, which really only just hits one creature)... it's a bit much. And you can even increase the AOE at higher levels? Which also tacks on the extra damage? It's too much.
That said, I think this is a really cool spell and honestly something I've been wanting for an Artificer character. I know it loses a lot of what you were going for, but if you took this exact same spell and just removed the damage, and instead just made it a crowd control magnetization I think it would still be awesome even as a 2nd level spell. But in the form you described it feels more like a 5th level spell. I do like the idea of spells that are deliberately designed to scale, so they're still useful throughout more of the game... maybe it would be best if it doesn't deal any damage at first, but only deals damage when upcast? That or drastically reduce the amount of damage that the spell does.
Maybe drop the chain damage every time someone new gets within 5 ft of the circuit? Maybe drop the chain damage to d4, instead of d6, or all of the damage to d4s, so it becomes more of a bare additional static shock.
I originally had the repeating damage to the primary target require a full action on each subsequent turn, instead of as a bonus action, but I got some feedback that it felt less useful than Heat Metal because of the lower damage die. I figured the additional movement effects balanced out the lower damage impact, but more than a few were primarily concerned with that damage.
I realize it includes a lot of words, and thus effects, I was just trying to be thorough in expressing the way something like that would realistically work. Not saying that defensively, more communicating the inspiration. I'm also toying around with a freeze metal that would make armor or weapons brittle and lower damage output, or AC.
I get what you mean... it's one of those things that's fairly easy to explain in casual dialogue. Like, "The object magnetizes and attracts other metal objects within 15 feet", but that's not really how the rules work in the game so you have to write a much longer, vaguely confusing explanation that strictly explains how this spell works within the game's rules.
I do agree that it makes more sense for this to deal less damage than Heat Metal, with the tradeoff being that it has more battlefield control effects. That's generally how spells are balanced in 5e... Fire Spells tend to have the most pure damage output, with the downside that they can be kind of destructive and also fire resistance is fairly common. Especially since this damage can easily spread to multiple targets, since the spell inherently pulls groups together and slows them down (as opposed to Heat Metal, which can really only hit multiple targets if there's some convoluted reason why multiple creatures are all making physical contact with a single metal object). I think what I would do is change to d4's, then have the initial damage from the primary object able to be upcast, but everyone whose just caught in the circuit only ever takes 1d4 of damage.
If you still want it to deal more damage than that, I think there are two potential fixes. One is to call for a CON saving throw when the additional damage is triggered with a bonus action, that way the amount of damage is balanced a bit by the fact that the creatures have chance to avoid or reduce it. Or make the spell have some kind of cost... either one very expensive component that the player has to acquire once but the spell doesn't consume, or a modestly priced component that gets consumed with each casting of the spell.
I really appreciate your feedback, you've given me lots of great ideas on tweeking it. I like where you're going with the CON saving throw to prevent damage, I thought I had created something similar with the STR save to move out of the way and break the chain, potentially ending it for others in the circuit as well. Also, the non-scaling damage for the static shock will definitely balance out the crowd control vs area damage, while giving a small damage punishment for failures. What do you think about the Action v bonus action for retriggering the initial damage?
I'll do some toying around and repost an updated version.
I think you could up the damage potential if you make it a full action, but I personally would prefer it to stay a bonus action to allow more creative freedom to what the player can do on their turn.
I considered adding the CON save to avoid the 1d4, but it doesn't feel as significant a risk, so the STR fails being required to pull people in to the magnetized object feels like it still does that job, and you still get the risk of repeating that damage multiple times in a round if enough people continue to make contact.
With the lower damage, I can keep the required materials cheap and easy to find, and it also makes a potential interesting strategy to drop or throw a manufactured object in front of the enemy to use as a targeted object for the spell.
Thanks again for the feedback. The spell definitely feels like it's more ready to play test in one of my upcoming campaigns.
Hey, so I'm trying this out as one of my first upper level spells, It was inspired by taking aspects of Heat Metal, Chain Lightning, and Black Hole, and making a scale-able and potentially powerful spell at third level. It's more powerful the more enemies there are, but the multiple different aspects should make it more versatile, not just a one trick pony.
Please test it out, and see if it makes sense as written, or if it needs some tweeks to bump it up a bit, or nerf it bit for its levels. Your feed back is welcome and appreciated.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/1905808-electrify-metal
Oof... that's a really meaty spell for 3rd level. The Lightning damage is bad enough, but the fact that it slows enemies down based on other metal objects nearby, and also attracts more metal objects toward itself (basically guaranteeing the slowdown), and also spreads damage across all creatures caught by it (as opposed to Heat Metal, which really only just hits one creature)... it's a bit much. And you can even increase the AOE at higher levels? Which also tacks on the extra damage? It's too much.
That said, I think this is a really cool spell and honestly something I've been wanting for an Artificer character. I know it loses a lot of what you were going for, but if you took this exact same spell and just removed the damage, and instead just made it a crowd control magnetization I think it would still be awesome even as a 2nd level spell. But in the form you described it feels more like a 5th level spell. I do like the idea of spells that are deliberately designed to scale, so they're still useful throughout more of the game... maybe it would be best if it doesn't deal any damage at first, but only deals damage when upcast? That or drastically reduce the amount of damage that the spell does.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Maybe drop the chain damage every time someone new gets within 5 ft of the circuit? Maybe drop the chain damage to d4, instead of d6, or all of the damage to d4s, so it becomes more of a bare additional static shock.
I originally had the repeating damage to the primary target require a full action on each subsequent turn, instead of as a bonus action, but I got some feedback that it felt less useful than Heat Metal because of the lower damage die. I figured the additional movement effects balanced out the lower damage impact, but more than a few were primarily concerned with that damage.
I realize it includes a lot of words, and thus effects, I was just trying to be thorough in expressing the way something like that would realistically work. Not saying that defensively, more communicating the inspiration. I'm also toying around with a freeze metal that would make armor or weapons brittle and lower damage output, or AC.
I get what you mean... it's one of those things that's fairly easy to explain in casual dialogue. Like, "The object magnetizes and attracts other metal objects within 15 feet", but that's not really how the rules work in the game so you have to write a much longer, vaguely confusing explanation that strictly explains how this spell works within the game's rules.
I do agree that it makes more sense for this to deal less damage than Heat Metal, with the tradeoff being that it has more battlefield control effects. That's generally how spells are balanced in 5e... Fire Spells tend to have the most pure damage output, with the downside that they can be kind of destructive and also fire resistance is fairly common. Especially since this damage can easily spread to multiple targets, since the spell inherently pulls groups together and slows them down (as opposed to Heat Metal, which can really only hit multiple targets if there's some convoluted reason why multiple creatures are all making physical contact with a single metal object). I think what I would do is change to d4's, then have the initial damage from the primary object able to be upcast, but everyone whose just caught in the circuit only ever takes 1d4 of damage.
If you still want it to deal more damage than that, I think there are two potential fixes. One is to call for a CON saving throw when the additional damage is triggered with a bonus action, that way the amount of damage is balanced a bit by the fact that the creatures have chance to avoid or reduce it. Or make the spell have some kind of cost... either one very expensive component that the player has to acquire once but the spell doesn't consume, or a modestly priced component that gets consumed with each casting of the spell.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
I really appreciate your feedback, you've given me lots of great ideas on tweeking it.
I like where you're going with the CON saving throw to prevent damage, I thought I had created something similar with the STR save to move out of the way and break the chain, potentially ending it for others in the circuit as well. Also, the non-scaling damage for the static shock will definitely balance out the crowd control vs area damage, while giving a small damage punishment for failures.
What do you think about the Action v bonus action for retriggering the initial damage?
I'll do some toying around and repost an updated version.
I think you could up the damage potential if you make it a full action, but I personally would prefer it to stay a bonus action to allow more creative freedom to what the player can do on their turn.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Updated: Dropped the scaling circuit damage, reduced the circuit damage to 1d4 per contact; kept it as a bonus action to retrigger.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/1908359-electrify-metal
I considered adding the CON save to avoid the 1d4, but it doesn't feel as significant a risk, so the STR fails being required to pull people in to the magnetized object feels like it still does that job, and you still get the risk of repeating that damage multiple times in a round if enough people continue to make contact.
With the lower damage, I can keep the required materials cheap and easy to find, and it also makes a potential interesting strategy to drop or throw a manufactured object in front of the enemy to use as a targeted object for the spell.
Thanks again for the feedback. The spell definitely feels like it's more ready to play test in one of my upcoming campaigns.