As the title says, I am looking to recreate a "spell" for my homebrew subclass, "School of Psionics" wizard, that emulates the Kinetic Barrier ability of Kimmuriel Obladra.
Right off the bat, I understand that a power in a novel can sometimes be both inconsistent (power of plot) and is almost never created with any thought of being game-balanced.
I have ATTEMPTED to recreate the effect and spirit of the spell and still keep it somewhat balanced, but I am very inexperienced when it comes to spell-balancing, so this could be way off!
For those who don't know the spell/power, the character is able to choose at least one target (in sight it would seem?) and create a Kinetic barrier around it. This barrier seems to absorb all or most attacks up to a specific amount of damage whereby the damage is either expelled harmlessly, focused into a melee attack by the target, OR...if the limit is reached before the energy is expelled or is kept beyond the duration, ALL the damage rebounds on the target.
As a starting balance point, I chose a field that gives an average of 44 temporary hit points at 5th level, scaling from there. It seems to at least be a 5th level spell, and while, in the novels, it does not seem to be a concentration-based spell, I have made it so here. Its duration would seem to be at least an hour.
I appreciate any suggestions/comments on how to balance this.
True it creates substantially more THPs than Armor of Agathys and does more damage, but it also requires a successful melee attack (though I just realized it says melee spell attack which would be super tough for non-casters this is cast upon. I will have to alter that wording) to do damage AND runs the risk of having all damage taken by the target of the spell if the spell ends when they don't have a reaction available.
I only just now found this thread during my own research into Kimmuriel's peculiar barrier due some events in Lolth's Warrior (the most recent Drizzt book). From what I've found, Kimmuriel's barrier is a souped up version on an old psionic spell/ability called Inertial Barrier. The original ability basically worked like stoneskin. Kimmuriel, however, found a way to amplify the effect to make the barrier's recipient immune to, and capable of then passing on, any damage they're subjected to. However, Kimmuriel had to work to "hold" the barrier's energy (which I'm representing as a mandatory concentration role), lest all the stored energy within the barrier be turned on the creature it was meant to protect.
Based on what I've read of Inertial Barrier, and Kimmuriel's much more potent version in the Drizzt books, I came up with this. Sorry it's a nearly a year late.
This is great! I like it. Do you think it would be worthwhile to add any scaling above 5th level? Not sure what that would look like. I am reading Lolth's Warrior right now myself, and without adding spoilers, just got to a point where the significant downsides of failing a concentration check were made...messily apparent lol
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As the title says, I am looking to recreate a "spell" for my homebrew subclass, "School of Psionics" wizard, that emulates the Kinetic Barrier ability of Kimmuriel Obladra.
Right off the bat, I understand that a power in a novel can sometimes be both inconsistent (power of plot) and is almost never created with any thought of being game-balanced.
I have ATTEMPTED to recreate the effect and spirit of the spell and still keep it somewhat balanced, but I am very inexperienced when it comes to spell-balancing, so this could be way off!
For those who don't know the spell/power, the character is able to choose at least one target (in sight it would seem?) and create a Kinetic barrier around it. This barrier seems to absorb all or most attacks up to a specific amount of damage whereby the damage is either expelled harmlessly, focused into a melee attack by the target, OR...if the limit is reached before the energy is expelled or is kept beyond the duration, ALL the damage rebounds on the target.
As a starting balance point, I chose a field that gives an average of 44 temporary hit points at 5th level, scaling from there. It seems to at least be a 5th level spell, and while, in the novels, it does not seem to be a concentration-based spell, I have made it so here. Its duration would seem to be at least an hour.
I appreciate any suggestions/comments on how to balance this.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Isn't this basically a much more dangerous Armor of Agathys with force instead of cold damage?
I guess it grants more HP than a fifth level casting of AA on average.
True it creates substantially more THPs than Armor of Agathys and does more damage, but it also requires a successful melee attack (though I just realized it says melee spell attack which would be super tough for non-casters this is cast upon. I will have to alter that wording) to do damage AND runs the risk of having all damage taken by the target of the spell if the spell ends when they don't have a reaction available.
I only just now found this thread during my own research into Kimmuriel's peculiar barrier due some events in Lolth's Warrior (the most recent Drizzt book). From what I've found, Kimmuriel's barrier is a souped up version on an old psionic spell/ability called Inertial Barrier. The original ability basically worked like stoneskin. Kimmuriel, however, found a way to amplify the effect to make the barrier's recipient immune to, and capable of then passing on, any damage they're subjected to. However, Kimmuriel had to work to "hold" the barrier's energy (which I'm representing as a mandatory concentration role), lest all the stored energy within the barrier be turned on the creature it was meant to protect.
Based on what I've read of Inertial Barrier, and Kimmuriel's much more potent version in the Drizzt books, I came up with this. Sorry it's a nearly a year late.
Kimmuriel's Kinetic Barrier
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This is great! I like it. Do you think it would be worthwhile to add any scaling above 5th level? Not sure what that would look like. I am reading Lolth's Warrior right now myself, and without adding spoilers, just got to a point where the significant downsides of failing a concentration check were made...messily apparent lol