Both I and the player are relatively new to D&d, and I was hoping to get some advice on whether this class stemmed super over/under powered compared to other sorcerer options.
Both I and the player are relatively new to D&d, and I was hoping to get some advice on whether this class stemmed super over/under powered compared to other sorcerer options.
Hi Abcismasta o/
I had a quick read at the sublcass, and while I think most features are ok, I would say that Blood Well is unecessarily convoluted. You created this complex system but then the only thing one can use blood point for is replenishing Sorcery Points or getting Spell Slots back, there is no other use for them anywhere else that I could see. I would suggest to streamline this to simply allowing the loss of HP in oroder to replenish Sorcery points, maybe at a little higher rate (like 1 SP for 2 HP), and maybe also use them to recover 6th-9th spells slots as you intended, but at a higher HP cost, imho.
Another thing I'd change is the first half of Blood Strength. Changing the Hit-Dice seems a bit odd to me, to be honest, and within DDB could be problematic to re-create. I would suggest instead to simply grant the character the Durable or Tough feat. The second part is good as-is, imho.
The rest I'll need a bit more time to read and give feedback on. Hope the above is somewhat helpful :)
Thank you! My goal with the blood points was to base it off the spell points variant in the DMG, but I think you are right about just getting straight sorcery points.
Edit: I'm looking at it, and I feel like flavor-wise, I might want to say something like "instead of sorcery points, you have a number of Blood points as shown in the table, they function similarly to sorcery points, but they can also be used to generate slots of 6-9th level at x rate, and you can sacrifice hit points for Blood points. " . Just for the edgyness of blooood.
Note: never allow extra level 9 slots. Being able to cast multiple Wishes or Meteor Swarms is a very bad idea.
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I'm not allowing extra 9th levels, only one per long rest.
That is technically allowing an additional 9th level spell slot... what Cyb3rM1nd was pointing at, is that it is extremely risky to allow more than 1 9th level spell to be cast per day, regardless of how this is achieved (short of somehow using a 9th level spell itself to achieve this, which technically defeats the purpose of casting it in the first place).
I tend to agree, tbh, I just didn't mention it earlier because I tend to think more in the first 15 levels of progression, so no 9th level spells :P
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
The spell points *replace* spell slots, so by only allowing one per long rest, that's one a day, or do people do multiple long rests a day?
I am not sure what you mean by *replace*... The whole point is: you can only create spell slots using sorcery points if you already have a slot of that level.
This means you can only create/replenish (however you want to see it) a lvl9 slot if you already have one.
1(lvl9 slot you already have) + 1(lvl 9 slot form SP) = 2 = potential to cast 2 lvl9 spells in one day
*Instead* of getting higher level spell slots like a sorcerer normally would, you get the ability to make spell slots of higher level using sorcery points. The way the math works out, the blood points provided per day allow for about half of a day's normal spell slots, for the rest you would have to sacrifice hit points. And you can only "purchase" one spell slot per day of 9th level
*Instead* of getting higher level spell slots like a sorcerer normally would, you get the ability to make spell slots of higher level using sorcery points. The way the math works out, the blood points provided per day allow for about half of a day's normal spell slots, for the rest you would have to sacrifice hit points. And you can only "purchase" one spell slot per day of 9th level
Ok, I am definitely missing something here... do you mean to say that the subclass effectively deprives the character of lvl 6+ spells slots and they can only get them by using Blood Points?
Sorry if I misunderstood you, but I also cannot seem to find any clarification of the mechanic you are mentioning in the text of the subclass :-/
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I was trying to say that this Subclass doesn't get any of the spell slots that the Sorcerer class normally does, they effectively get a bigger pool of sorcery points (for conversion to spell slots) and the ability to make high level spell slots out of the points.
I was trying to say that this Subclass doesn't get any of the spell slots that the Sorcerer class normally does, they effectively get a bigger pool of sorcery points (for conversion to spell slots) and the ability to make high level spell slots out of the points.
And that is the problem me and Cyb3rM1nd were rising: you are not giving more high-level spell slots, but you are giving the possibility of obtaining them by spending a resource. The problem is that the expenditure of said resource is not comparable to the unbalance produced by being able to cast more than one 9th level spell in a day.
9th level spells are already game-breaking, being able to break the game twice in a day seems a tad much, imho...
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
YOU DO NOT GET 2 9TH LEVEL SPELL SLOTS. YOU GET ZERO SPELL SLOTS PER DAY. YOU CAN TRADE POINTS FOR SPELL SLOTS, AND THERE IS A MAX OF 1 9TH LEVEL PER DAY.
Quote 1: "You do not gain sorcery points or spell slots as normal for Sorcerers."
Quote 2: "Blood points can be used as normal sorcery points, except that they can also make slots of 6th-9th level. The conversion rate for Blood points to spell slots is shown in the conversion table.
Spells of 6th through 9th level put tremendous strain on the caster's body. Only two each of 6th and 7th level spell slots, and one of each of 8th and 9th level spell slots can be created per day. "
(old )https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/subclasses/52108-blood-mage-2-0
(updated) https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/subclasses/52941-blood-mage-3-0
Both I and the player are relatively new to D&d, and I was hoping to get some advice on whether this class stemmed super over/under powered compared to other sorcerer options.
Edit: I made some changes based on feedback.
Hi Abcismasta o/
I had a quick read at the sublcass, and while I think most features are ok, I would say that Blood Well is unecessarily convoluted.
You created this complex system but then the only thing one can use blood point for is replenishing Sorcery Points or getting Spell Slots back, there is no other use for them anywhere else that I could see.
I would suggest to streamline this to simply allowing the loss of HP in oroder to replenish Sorcery points, maybe at a little higher rate (like 1 SP for 2 HP), and maybe also use them to recover 6th-9th spells slots as you intended, but at a higher HP cost, imho.
Another thing I'd change is the first half of Blood Strength. Changing the Hit-Dice seems a bit odd to me, to be honest, and within DDB could be problematic to re-create. I would suggest instead to simply grant the character the Durable or Tough feat.
The second part is good as-is, imho.
The rest I'll need a bit more time to read and give feedback on. Hope the above is somewhat helpful :)
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Thank you! My goal with the blood points was to base it off the spell points variant in the DMG, but I think you are right about just getting straight sorcery points.
Edit: I'm looking at it, and I feel like flavor-wise, I might want to say something like "instead of sorcery points, you have a number of Blood points as shown in the table, they function similarly to sorcery points, but they can also be used to generate slots of 6-9th level at x rate, and you can sacrifice hit points for Blood points. " . Just for the edgyness of blooood.
Note: never allow extra level 9 slots. Being able to cast multiple Wishes or Meteor Swarms is a very bad idea.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
I'm not allowing extra 9th levels, only one per long rest.
That is technically allowing an additional 9th level spell slot... what Cyb3rM1nd was pointing at, is that it is extremely risky to allow more than 1 9th level spell to be cast per day, regardless of how this is achieved (short of somehow using a 9th level spell itself to achieve this, which technically defeats the purpose of casting it in the first place).
I tend to agree, tbh, I just didn't mention it earlier because I tend to think more in the first 15 levels of progression, so no 9th level spells :P
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
The spell points *replace* spell slots, so by only allowing one per long rest, that's one a day, or do people do multiple long rests a day?
I am not sure what you mean by *replace*... The whole point is: you can only create spell slots using sorcery points if you already have a slot of that level.
This means you can only create/replenish (however you want to see it) a lvl9 slot if you already have one.
1(lvl9 slot you already have) + 1(lvl 9 slot form SP) = 2 = potential to cast 2 lvl9 spells in one day
Am I missing something?
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
*Instead* of getting higher level spell slots like a sorcerer normally would, you get the ability to make spell slots of higher level using sorcery points. The way the math works out, the blood points provided per day allow for about half of a day's normal spell slots, for the rest you would have to sacrifice hit points. And you can only "purchase" one spell slot per day of 9th level
Ok, I am definitely missing something here... do you mean to say that the subclass effectively deprives the character of lvl 6+ spells slots and they can only get them by using Blood Points?
Sorry if I misunderstood you, but I also cannot seem to find any clarification of the mechanic you are mentioning in the text of the subclass :-/
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I was trying to say that this Subclass doesn't get any of the spell slots that the Sorcerer class normally does, they effectively get a bigger pool of sorcery points (for conversion to spell slots) and the ability to make high level spell slots out of the points.
And that is the problem me and Cyb3rM1nd were rising: you are not giving more high-level spell slots, but you are giving the possibility of obtaining them by spending a resource.
The problem is that the expenditure of said resource is not comparable to the unbalance produced by being able to cast more than one 9th level spell in a day.
9th level spells are already game-breaking, being able to break the game twice in a day seems a tad much, imho...
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
YOU DO NOT GET 2 9TH LEVEL SPELL SLOTS. YOU GET ZERO SPELL SLOTS PER DAY. YOU CAN TRADE POINTS FOR SPELL SLOTS, AND THERE IS A MAX OF 1 9TH LEVEL PER DAY.
Quote 1: "You do not gain sorcery points or spell slots as normal for Sorcerers."
Quote 2: "Blood points can be used as normal sorcery points, except that they can also make slots of 6th-9th level. The conversion rate for Blood points to spell slots is shown in the conversion table.