NPC Astral Elves have the ability to charge their weapons with radiant attacks. This ability is missing in the player character builds. I've been creating homebrew feats and cantrips to flesh out these abilities for people who play Astral Elves. It's "Complete/Useable" as is, but I'm open to version modifications for balance purposes. The first feat I'm pretty solid on, I feel it's fairly balanced if not slightly underpowered, and have been playtesting it for a while in one of my campaigns with good success. Now I'm building out a second feat which extends the abilities of the first feat, and trying to make it worth taking but not too OP. If you're good on the math of the game and determining balance. Please give feedback or thoughts.
Your astral heritage and fierce devotion to your pantheon has earned divine favor, investing you with the ability to channel the radiant energy of starlight through your weapons
Increase your Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20
You gain astral attunement to one weapon of your choice. While astrally attuned, you gain proficiency with the weapon if you do not already have it. You can transfer this attunement to a different weapon with a long rest.
While astrally attuned, the weapon is purified and infused with divine radiance, and considered magical.
As a bonus action, you can charge your astrally attuned weapon by channeling the radiant energy of starlight into it before taking your attack action. .
On yourAttackaction, your charged weapon's damage type changes to radiant damage. If you have multiple attacks with the weapon, the radiant damage is applied to the first successful strike that turn
Your astral heritage and fierce devotion to your pantheon has earned further divine favor, investing you with the ability to channel the radiant energy of starlight through your weapons
You gain the Astral Strike Cantrip You can now channel the divinity of radiant starlight into your astrally attuned weapon (melee or ranged) and make an attack with it against one creature. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack’s normal effects and then becomes engulfed in shimmering starlight until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 radiant damage, and the spell ends. When used with a ranged weapon, the spell is only effective within the weapons "normal" range. This spell’s damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the attack deals an extra 1d8 radiant damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8)
You strengthen your innate astral trance ability
You extend your Astral Elf Radiant Warrior weapon attunement to a second weapon of your choice which you are already proficient with. You can transfer this attunement to a different weapon with a long rest.
While astrally attuned, this second weapon is purified and infused with divine radiance, and considered magical.
When you use a bonus action to charge your astrally attuned weapon using the Astral Elf Radiant Warrior feat, and then take an attack action, if you have multiple attacks with the weapon, the radiant damage can now be applied to the first two successful attacks that turn.
The cantrip is effectively a booming blade like cantrip, but its damage is radiant, and it can be used with any melee or ranged weapon. My reasoning is that monster astral elves can use their radiant abilities with ranged or melee attacks, so the feat should honor that, and it kind of corrects the nerf that Tashas gave Booming Blade which is nice for characters that use reach weapons. I also wanted a reason for players to want to use this over other cantrips like Booming Blade and Eldritch blast while keeping it somewhat in alignment with those cantrips power wise, and give some progressive attack damage growth with character level progression.
After looking at the Astral Elf Variants in the MM.. I also came up with this possible revision:
Your astral heritage and fierce devotion to your pantheon has earned further divine favor, investing you with the ability to channel the radiant energy of starlight through your weapons
You gain the Astral Strike Ability: Once per turn, you can now channel the divinity of radiant starlight into your astrally attuned weapon (melee or ranged) and make an attack with it against one creature. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack’s normal effects, and then becomes engulfed in shimmering starlight. The target takes 1d6 radiant damage. When used with a ranged weapon, the spell is only effective within the weapons "normal" range. This spell’s damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the attack increases to 2d6 radiant damage to the target on a hit. The damage roll increase by 1d6 at 10th level (3d6), 15th level (4d6), and again at 20th level (5d6)
You strengthen your innate astral trance ability
You extend your Astral Elf Radiant Warrior weapon attunement to a second weapon of your choice which you are already proficient with. You can transfer this attunement to a different weapon with a long rest.
While astrally attuned, this second weapon is purified and infused with divine radiance, and considered magical.
When you use a bonus action to charge your astrally attuned weapon using the Astral Elf Radiant Warrior feat, and then take an attack action, if you have multiple attacks with the weapon, the radiant damage can now be applied to the first two successful attacks that turn.
This possible alternative might be more in alignment with the abilities outlined in the MM for the various Astral Elf variants, as well as possibly being slightly less OP compared to the current version of the Radiant Master feat. The max possible damage with this version would +30, where using Booming Blade or the Astral Strike Cantrip of the current version, the max additional damage would be 24+32. I think the benefit of taking this feat, is it's ability to be used with reach and ranged weapons, and it's slightly higher non-conditional damage bonus, however I'm not sure that it's worth taking over just getting the Booming Blade/GFB cantrip for (melee) and Eldritch Blast (ranged). In this possible revision, I'm not sure if the Astral Strike should be a cantrip or free action ability, as a cantrip would limit any second attacks, where a free action ability would allow them to make additional attacks if the PC has them.
Anyways, I figured I'd put it out there for you guys to take a look at, and give your feedback on. I know some of you are numbers guys who are pretty good at figuring out the power ratios between abilities and spells, and can give feedback about that. Just keep in mind that this requires the consumption of two feats to gain the cantrip and it's abilities, which costs the player alternative feat powerups they could have gained otherwise. If using the weapon radiant damage aspect of the feat, it also costs the player their bonus action and any extra attacks, disengage, or ability uses that may give them. The player is also limited to using the cantrip with the weapons they have astrally attuned to with the feat. The second weapon attunement was so the ability could be used easily by flex range/melee and dual wield fighters. I also figured the "considered magical" aspect for the second weapon wasn't really adding much to the second feat, considering it doesn't increase damage, and by the time the character reaches their second ASI they likely already have magical weapons. It just keeps it consistent with the first feat, and gives the weapon the ability to hit magical creatures if the weapon doesn't have that ability already. The applicable to multiple attacks feature is also nerfed a bit considering for characters that natively only have one attack, additional attacks they have probably require a bonus action, which you are instead using to charge the weapon. Maybe I should have made that a reaction rather than bonus action... hmmmm.. Please give feedback if you can with any concerns, suggested tweaks, etc. I really want to make this workable, but keep it at least somewhat balanced.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
NPC Astral Elves have the ability to charge their weapons with radiant attacks. This ability is missing in the player character builds. I've been creating homebrew feats and cantrips to flesh out these abilities for people who play Astral Elves. It's "Complete/Useable" as is, but I'm open to version modifications for balance purposes. The first feat I'm pretty solid on, I feel it's fairly balanced if not slightly underpowered, and have been playtesting it for a while in one of my campaigns with good success. Now I'm building out a second feat which extends the abilities of the first feat, and trying to make it worth taking but not too OP. If you're good on the math of the game and determining balance. Please give feedback or thoughts.
The first Racial Feat is:
Astral Elf Radiant Warrior https://www.dndbeyond.com/feats/1225302-astral-elf-radiant-warrior
Prerequisite: Elf (Astral)
Your astral heritage and fierce devotion to your pantheon has earned divine favor, investing you with the ability to channel the radiant energy of starlight through your weapons
Increase your Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20
You gain astral attunement to one weapon of your choice. While astrally attuned, you gain proficiency with the weapon if you do not already have it. You can transfer this attunement to a different weapon with a long rest.
While astrally attuned, the weapon is purified and infused with divine radiance, and considered magical.
As a bonus action, you can charge your astrally attuned weapon by channeling the radiant energy of starlight into it before taking your attack action. .
On your Attack action, your charged weapon's damage type changes to radiant damage. If you have multiple attacks with the weapon, the radiant damage is applied to the first successful strike that turn
The second Feat currently:
Astral Elf Radiant Master https://www.dndbeyond.com/feats/1724657-astral-elf-radiant-master
Prerequisite: Elf (Astral) Feat - Astral Elf Radiant Warrior
Your astral heritage and fierce devotion to your pantheon has earned further divine favor, investing you with the ability to channel the radiant energy of starlight through your weapons
You gain the Astral Strike Cantrip You can now channel the divinity of radiant starlight into your astrally attuned weapon (melee or ranged) and make an attack with it against one creature. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack’s normal effects and then becomes engulfed in shimmering starlight until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 radiant damage, and the spell ends. When used with a ranged weapon, the spell is only effective within the weapons "normal" range. This spell’s damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the attack deals an extra 1d8 radiant damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8)
You strengthen your innate astral trance ability
You extend your Astral Elf Radiant Warrior weapon attunement to a second weapon of your choice which you are already proficient with. You can transfer this attunement to a different weapon with a long rest.
While astrally attuned, this second weapon is purified and infused with divine radiance, and considered magical.
When you use a bonus action to charge your astrally attuned weapon using the Astral Elf Radiant Warrior feat, and then take an attack action, if you have multiple attacks with the weapon, the radiant damage can now be applied to the first two successful attacks that turn.
(Astral Strike Cantrip: https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2471926-astral-strike )
The cantrip is effectively a booming blade like cantrip, but its damage is radiant, and it can be used with any melee or ranged weapon. My reasoning is that monster astral elves can use their radiant abilities with ranged or melee attacks, so the feat should honor that, and it kind of corrects the nerf that Tashas gave Booming Blade which is nice for characters that use reach weapons. I also wanted a reason for players to want to use this over other cantrips like Booming Blade and Eldritch blast while keeping it somewhat in alignment with those cantrips power wise, and give some progressive attack damage growth with character level progression.
After looking at the Astral Elf Variants in the MM.. I also came up with this possible revision:
Astral Elf Radiant Master (Possible Alternative)
Prerequisite: Elf (Astral) Feat - Astral Elf Radiant Warrior
Your astral heritage and fierce devotion to your pantheon has earned further divine favor, investing you with the ability to channel the radiant energy of starlight through your weapons
You gain the Astral Strike Ability: Once per turn, you can now channel the divinity of radiant starlight into your astrally attuned weapon (melee or ranged) and make an attack with it against one creature. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack’s normal effects, and then becomes engulfed in shimmering starlight. The target takes 1d6 radiant damage. When used with a ranged weapon, the spell is only effective within the weapons "normal" range. This spell’s damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the attack increases to 2d6 radiant damage to the target on a hit. The damage roll increase by 1d6 at 10th level (3d6), 15th level (4d6), and again at 20th level (5d6)
You strengthen your innate astral trance ability
You extend your Astral Elf Radiant Warrior weapon attunement to a second weapon of your choice which you are already proficient with. You can transfer this attunement to a different weapon with a long rest.
While astrally attuned, this second weapon is purified and infused with divine radiance, and considered magical.
When you use a bonus action to charge your astrally attuned weapon using the Astral Elf Radiant Warrior feat, and then take an attack action, if you have multiple attacks with the weapon, the radiant damage can now be applied to the first two successful attacks that turn.
This possible alternative might be more in alignment with the abilities outlined in the MM for the various Astral Elf variants, as well as possibly being slightly less OP compared to the current version of the Radiant Master feat. The max possible damage with this version would +30, where using Booming Blade or the Astral Strike Cantrip of the current version, the max additional damage would be 24+32. I think the benefit of taking this feat, is it's ability to be used with reach and ranged weapons, and it's slightly higher non-conditional damage bonus, however I'm not sure that it's worth taking over just getting the Booming Blade/GFB cantrip for (melee) and Eldritch Blast (ranged). In this possible revision, I'm not sure if the Astral Strike should be a cantrip or free action ability, as a cantrip would limit any second attacks, where a free action ability would allow them to make additional attacks if the PC has them.
Anyways, I figured I'd put it out there for you guys to take a look at, and give your feedback on. I know some of you are numbers guys who are pretty good at figuring out the power ratios between abilities and spells, and can give feedback about that. Just keep in mind that this requires the consumption of two feats to gain the cantrip and it's abilities, which costs the player alternative feat powerups they could have gained otherwise. If using the weapon radiant damage aspect of the feat, it also costs the player their bonus action and any extra attacks, disengage, or ability uses that may give them. The player is also limited to using the cantrip with the weapons they have astrally attuned to with the feat. The second weapon attunement was so the ability could be used easily by flex range/melee and dual wield fighters. I also figured the "considered magical" aspect for the second weapon wasn't really adding much to the second feat, considering it doesn't increase damage, and by the time the character reaches their second ASI they likely already have magical weapons. It just keeps it consistent with the first feat, and gives the weapon the ability to hit magical creatures if the weapon doesn't have that ability already. The applicable to multiple attacks feature is also nerfed a bit considering for characters that natively only have one attack, additional attacks they have probably require a bonus action, which you are instead using to charge the weapon. Maybe I should have made that a reaction rather than bonus action... hmmmm.. Please give feedback if you can with any concerns, suggested tweaks, etc. I really want to make this workable, but keep it at least somewhat balanced.