Hello, I'm a new DM and had an idea for a nee spellcaster class. I'm looking for idead on balancing the kind of core principle of the class, being their Book of Shadows. I can post more specifics later but it works essentially lik athe Warlocks one from the pact of the tome.
However you are able to copy any spell, not just ritual spells. The main idea is that in my world a Witch is like a Sorcerer, with mild innate magical abilities, and connected to the ethereal, which is the foundation of energy in all the planes. So they are able to understand and utilize any type of energy (arcane, divine, ect). I want them to be a flexible jack-of-all-trades type caster that can access a bit of any class but can't overshadow any of the pre-existing ones. However I feel like as it stands that's over powered. So I'm looking for suggestions on helping to balance this.
This is my first real homebrew, and I'm a new dm so I don't have a lot of experience, but these are the ideas I came up with so far.
Limit the level of spells that can be contained in the book.
Limit the amount of spells that can be held in the book.
Have book spells count towards your overall spells (a little trickier).
Have Witches base spell list be more limited to compensate.
Make all spells in book count as rituals (forcing them all to be a minimum of 1 minute and can only be used out of combat) with the ability to unlock using them normally later.
I'm open to any and all suggestions or help on the matter. Thank you in advanced. ^^
Edit: This is sort of the baseline I have figured out so far.
Level1
Innate Spellcasting- Witches are connected to the ethereal and have innate magical powers which gives them a limited selection of spells that they can know. Starts with 2, eventually equaling out to a max of 15 at 20th level.
Book of Shadows-lets you learn any spell you come across that is of a level of spell you are able to cast, for a price. Possibly spending a certain amount of days equal to the spells level expending that slot to understand it's practice. The spells in their book of shadows is different from the spells they know innately. You prepare the list of witch spells from the ones inscribed within your book. When you do so, choose a number of spells equal to your Wisdom modifier. At later levels you could be able to add your Intelligence modifier for more book spells.
Witch's Familiar-An animal companion whom you are connected to, no larger then medium, and with a CR of 1/8 or lower. Possibly given some kind of gift based on your choice of coven, but ultimately just for flavor.
Level2
Covenant-the philosophy of practice you follow. Your chosen coven will give you a feature, and additional features as you level. A witch's covenant is a symbol of the philosophy that they believe to be the best path for them. Having a covenant with a specific coven does not mean you are a part of a group if you do not wish to be, it is simply the style of witch craft you focus on. List of Covens at the bottom.
Runic Inscription- allows you to inscribe runes into mundane items granting small magical effects for a period of time. At 2nd level two runes can be chosen, along with the 1 granted by your choice of coven. At later levels more runes can be chosen. Eventually at much later levels the runes can be made permanent through cost and time. Each Rune takes a minimum of a minute to inscribe, with duration maybe based per rune.
List of possible Runes:
Rune of Sensing-Let's you know exactly where the inscribed object is for it's duration, so long as it is within range.
Rune of Accuracy-gives a +1 to hit with a non-magical weapon.
Rune of Damage-gives a +1 to damage with a non-magical weapon.
Rune of Ethereal-makes the object harder to find.
More to be added
20th
Something badass
Covens
Coven of Blood- Focuses on combat and the physical side of magic. Uses blood in various ways, either by sacrificing their own for buffs to them and the party, or by drawing blood from enemies to further their offense. They are typically more physically capable.
Coven of Soul- Focuses on spirits and the ethereal. Have a connection to spirits and ghosts, maybe focuses a lot on necromancy or seeing into the unknown. Very much more concerned with their own spirit and the power of their will over the physical body.
Coven of Mind- Focuses on people and social graces, seductress/silver tongued. Definitely a focus on enchantments, illusions, and psychic abilities, messing with the mind. Typically very charismatic.
Coven of Nature- Focuses on the natural side of the craft. Herbalists, animal lovers, the kind of people that prefer the tree's or the wild over the hustle of city. A good focus for elemental prowess and nature spells.
Coven of Faith- Focuses on their connection and belief in the gods over themselves. While not adhering to a strict doctrine and priesthood like clerics tend to, they worship their respective gods in their own ways. A heavy hand in radiant and better healers then other witches.
Here are my initial thoughts on balancing it based on what you seem to want to do. Apologies if this isn't exactly what you are going for.
1- They can learn spells from any class but it costs 1.5X the normal gold cost per spell to transcribe into your book of shadows. They prepare spells like a wizard (Level + Spellcasting modifier).
2- They can use metamagic but they only learn metamagic at half the rate and have half the total sorcery points per level.
3- They have normal spell slot progression but they cannot learn any spell above level 5. They can only cast level 6-9 spells from spell scrolls.
4- They only get 3 invocations total- 1 at 5th level, 10th level and 15th level.
Like I said initial thoughts but this would create a caster that is extra-ordinarily flexible but they pay for that flexibility with lack of higher level power. I may have nerfed too much- could be room for tweaking around the margins but this feels about right.
Thank you for your reply! Also I just read my previous post and it had a lot more typos then I thought sorry about that.
I wasn't planning on giving them sorcery points or invocations, I'm working on unique features of their own to set them apart. But having the cost higher could definitely help. I was also going to make them have to really work for spells, something along the lines of needing to expended the needed spell slot for x amount of days depending on the spell level in order to practice in it's usage.
I'm not sure about limiting them to only scrolls above fifth, but I do want to limit their usage of above 5th level spells in some way. Possibly having only 1 spell for each level above 5th? Either way your suggestion has me thinking so thank you. ^^
With the idea here being a jack-of-all trades, master of none type I would look at what paladin does, mixing the fighter and cleric into once class, giving features of each but taking away the high level spell-casting potential.
Here we are remixing Wizard with Sorcerer essentially. So we can take bits and bobs from each. But to ensure they don't become oppressive limit their spell slots and slot levels in other ways. I would look at what the spell slots and levels are for Paladin compared to cleric and do something similar as is done there. Perhaps give access up to a maximum of 7th level spells.
I also think as you said the book of shadows warlock like, it might be interesting to give the book a say in what is possible, giving the book a personality to a limited degree. Maybe force the player to case a different spell subsequently after a spell is cast from the book of shadows, with as flavor being the page becomes illegible as shadows cover the page. This would making the player cast two fireballs in a row be impossible, but if they cast fireball and then any other 1st level or higher spell, their fireball becomes legible again. (This could become more of a annoyance then a flavorful or interesting mechanic however.)
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Hello, I'm a new DM and had an idea for a nee spellcaster class. I'm looking for idead on balancing the kind of core principle of the class, being their Book of Shadows. I can post more specifics later but it works essentially lik athe Warlocks one from the pact of the tome.
However you are able to copy any spell, not just ritual spells. The main idea is that in my world a Witch is like a Sorcerer, with mild innate magical abilities, and connected to the ethereal, which is the foundation of energy in all the planes. So they are able to understand and utilize any type of energy (arcane, divine, ect). I want them to be a flexible jack-of-all-trades type caster that can access a bit of any class but can't overshadow any of the pre-existing ones. However I feel like as it stands that's over powered. So I'm looking for suggestions on helping to balance this.
This is my first real homebrew, and I'm a new dm so I don't have a lot of experience, but these are the ideas I came up with so far.
Limit the level of spells that can be contained in the book.
Limit the amount of spells that can be held in the book.
Have book spells count towards your overall spells (a little trickier).
Have Witches base spell list be more limited to compensate.
Make all spells in book count as rituals (forcing them all to be a minimum of 1 minute and can only be used out of combat) with the ability to unlock using them normally later.
I'm open to any and all suggestions or help on the matter. Thank you in advanced. ^^
Edit: This is sort of the baseline I have figured out so far.
Level1
Innate Spellcasting- Witches are connected to the ethereal and have innate magical powers which gives them a limited selection of spells that they can know. Starts with 2, eventually equaling out to a max of 15 at 20th level.
Book of Shadows-lets you learn any spell you come across that is of a level of spell you are able to cast, for a price. Possibly spending a certain amount of days equal to the spells level expending that slot to understand it's practice. The spells in their book of shadows is different from the spells they know innately. You prepare the list of witch spells from the ones inscribed within your book. When you do so, choose a number of spells equal to your Wisdom modifier. At later levels you could be able to add your Intelligence modifier for more book spells.
Witch's Familiar-An animal companion whom you are connected to, no larger then medium, and with a CR of 1/8 or lower. Possibly given some kind of gift based on your choice of coven, but ultimately just for flavor.
Level2
Covenant-the philosophy of practice you follow. Your chosen coven will give you a feature, and additional features as you level. A witch's covenant is a symbol of the philosophy that they believe to be the best path for them. Having a covenant with a specific coven does not mean you are a part of a group if you do not wish to be, it is simply the style of witch craft you focus on. List of Covens at the bottom.
Runic Inscription- allows you to inscribe runes into mundane items granting small magical effects for a period of time. At 2nd level two runes can be chosen, along with the 1 granted by your choice of coven. At later levels more runes can be chosen. Eventually at much later levels the runes can be made permanent through cost and time. Each Rune takes a minimum of a minute to inscribe, with duration maybe based per rune.
List of possible Runes:
Rune of Sensing-Let's you know exactly where the inscribed object is for it's duration, so long as it is within range.
Rune of Accuracy-gives a +1 to hit with a non-magical weapon.
Rune of Damage-gives a +1 to damage with a non-magical weapon.
Rune of Ethereal-makes the object harder to find.
More to be added
20th
Something badass
Covens
Coven of Blood- Focuses on combat and the physical side of magic. Uses blood in various ways, either by sacrificing their own for buffs to them and the party, or by drawing blood from enemies to further their offense. They are typically more physically capable.
Coven of Soul- Focuses on spirits and the ethereal. Have a connection to spirits and ghosts, maybe focuses a lot on necromancy or seeing into the unknown. Very much more concerned with their own spirit and the power of their will over the physical body.
Coven of Mind- Focuses on people and social graces, seductress/silver tongued. Definitely a focus on enchantments, illusions, and psychic abilities, messing with the mind. Typically very charismatic.
Coven of Nature- Focuses on the natural side of the craft. Herbalists, animal lovers, the kind of people that prefer the tree's or the wild over the hustle of city. A good focus for elemental prowess and nature spells.
Coven of Faith- Focuses on their connection and belief in the gods over themselves. While not adhering to a strict doctrine and priesthood like clerics tend to, they worship their respective gods in their own ways. A heavy hand in radiant and better healers then other witches.
Here are my initial thoughts on balancing it based on what you seem to want to do. Apologies if this isn't exactly what you are going for.
1- They can learn spells from any class but it costs 1.5X the normal gold cost per spell to transcribe into your book of shadows. They prepare spells like a wizard (Level + Spellcasting modifier).
2- They can use metamagic but they only learn metamagic at half the rate and have half the total sorcery points per level.
3- They have normal spell slot progression but they cannot learn any spell above level 5. They can only cast level 6-9 spells from spell scrolls.
4- They only get 3 invocations total- 1 at 5th level, 10th level and 15th level.
Like I said initial thoughts but this would create a caster that is extra-ordinarily flexible but they pay for that flexibility with lack of higher level power. I may have nerfed too much- could be room for tweaking around the margins but this feels about right.
Thank you for your reply! Also I just read my previous post and it had a lot more typos then I thought sorry about that.
I wasn't planning on giving them sorcery points or invocations, I'm working on unique features of their own to set them apart. But having the cost higher could definitely help. I was also going to make them have to really work for spells, something along the lines of needing to expended the needed spell slot for x amount of days depending on the spell level in order to practice in it's usage.
I'm not sure about limiting them to only scrolls above fifth, but I do want to limit their usage of above 5th level spells in some way. Possibly having only 1 spell for each level above 5th? Either way your suggestion has me thinking so thank you. ^^
I've edited the original post with what I have figured out so far. Anymore help or suggestions would be nice.
With the idea here being a jack-of-all trades, master of none type I would look at what paladin does, mixing the fighter and cleric into once class, giving features of each but taking away the high level spell-casting potential.
Here we are remixing Wizard with Sorcerer essentially. So we can take bits and bobs from each. But to ensure they don't become oppressive limit their spell slots and slot levels in other ways. I would look at what the spell slots and levels are for Paladin compared to cleric and do something similar as is done there. Perhaps give access up to a maximum of 7th level spells.
I also think as you said the book of shadows warlock like, it might be interesting to give the book a say in what is possible, giving the book a personality to a limited degree. Maybe force the player to case a different spell subsequently after a spell is cast from the book of shadows, with as flavor being the page becomes illegible as shadows cover the page. This would making the player cast two fireballs in a row be impossible, but if they cast fireball and then any other 1st level or higher spell, their fireball becomes legible again. (This could become more of a annoyance then a flavorful or interesting mechanic however.)