I've had a homebrew barbarian subclass, the Path of the Rage Mage public for a long itme now, and I've decided to revisit it for major revisions which may very well tamper with the balance. First, some background. The Rage Mage first showed up in 3e as a prestige class which allowed the barbarian to cast a very limited set of spells while raging. My first draft of the Rage Mage had very simple abilities, most notably a half-caster spellcasting ability with access to the Sorcerer spell list.
I have two issues with my first draft. First, the abilities (spellcasting aside) are only useful in combat, leaving the barbarian no special advantages in exploration and social encounters. This isn't unprecedented in the official rules (consider the Brute fighter), but it also isn't desirable to have a one-dimensional progression. Second, the abilities don't take advantage of the base barbarian progression.
I don't have a solution for the first problem yet. For instance, I don't feel like giving the barbarian access to the Arcana is interesting or even appropriate.
For the second issue I propose amending the subclass as follows. The subclass should include the ability to use both the Reckless Attack and Brutal Critical abilities with (at least melee) spell attacks. I'm working on the wording, and could use some extra eyes:
Spell Rage
Beginning at 3rd level, you learn to tap into your natural anger to channel arcane power. You can cast and concentrate on spells while raging, as long as the spell's casting time is no more than an action. Additionally, while raging, you can add your rage damage bonus to one damage roll of any spell you cast.
Reckless Spell
Starting at 6th level, when you use Reckless Attack, you have advantage on melee spell attack rolls during this turn.
Brutal Spell
Beginning at 10th level, you can roll one additional damage die when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee spell attack. This increases to two additional dice at 14th level.
The greatest pitfall with this approach is that there are very few spells that employ melee spell attacks. The sorcerer spell list includes only three under 5th level, all of which are cantrips: booming blade, green-flame blade, and shocking grasp. Extending the list to wizard spells only adds vampiric touch at 3rd level. I'd really rather not create a custom spell list for a single subclass, but I may have to if I use this approach.
One alternative would be to tie the subclass to the paladin spell list, which includes a slew of "smite" spells, but none of those require melee spell attacks. Then I could reword the abilities above. Since the paladin has no spells of under 5th-level that require a melee spell attack, something along these lines might work:
Reckless Spell
Starting at 6th level, when you cast a spell that forces a creature make a saving throw, you can choose to cast recklessly. Doing so imposes disadvantage on any saving throw it makes against the spell this turn, but you have disadvantage on all saving throws against spells and other magical effects until the beginning of your next turn.
Brutal Spell
Beginning at 10th level, your frenzy empowers your destructive spells. When you cast a spell that forces another creature to make a saving throw, and the creature fails its saving throw by 5 or more, you can roll one additional damage die (if any). This increases to two additional dice at 14th level.
The trouble with using the paladin spell list is that you get some really strange spells that aren't really appropriate, eg. divine favor, crusader's mantle, and remove curse. What do you all think?
Thanks. I think you're right. If I were to use the abilities above, given the constraints on the spells for which they work, I'd limit them to at most two of the subclass abilities.
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Hi all,
I've had a homebrew barbarian subclass, the Path of the Rage Mage public for a long itme now, and I've decided to revisit it for major revisions which may very well tamper with the balance. First, some background. The Rage Mage first showed up in 3e as a prestige class which allowed the barbarian to cast a very limited set of spells while raging. My first draft of the Rage Mage had very simple abilities, most notably a half-caster spellcasting ability with access to the Sorcerer spell list.
I have two issues with my first draft. First, the abilities (spellcasting aside) are only useful in combat, leaving the barbarian no special advantages in exploration and social encounters. This isn't unprecedented in the official rules (consider the Brute fighter), but it also isn't desirable to have a one-dimensional progression. Second, the abilities don't take advantage of the base barbarian progression.
I don't have a solution for the first problem yet. For instance, I don't feel like giving the barbarian access to the Arcana is interesting or even appropriate.
For the second issue I propose amending the subclass as follows. The subclass should include the ability to use both the Reckless Attack and Brutal Critical abilities with (at least melee) spell attacks. I'm working on the wording, and could use some extra eyes:
The greatest pitfall with this approach is that there are very few spells that employ melee spell attacks. The sorcerer spell list includes only three under 5th level, all of which are cantrips: booming blade, green-flame blade, and shocking grasp. Extending the list to wizard spells only adds vampiric touch at 3rd level. I'd really rather not create a custom spell list for a single subclass, but I may have to if I use this approach.
One alternative would be to tie the subclass to the paladin spell list, which includes a slew of "smite" spells, but none of those require melee spell attacks. Then I could reword the abilities above. Since the paladin has no spells of under 5th-level that require a melee spell attack, something along these lines might work:
The trouble with using the paladin spell list is that you get some really strange spells that aren't really appropriate, eg. divine favor, crusader's mantle, and remove curse. What do you all think?
Here's my advice:
Don't just mirror standard Barbarian abilites to explain Spell Rage mechanics.
Half casters are usually a class. Limited casters are a subclass, like Arcane Trickster Rogue or Way of Four Elements Monk.
Create a spell list for this subclass.
That's all I got unless I actually try to envision all the details of the subclass myself.
Thanks. I think you're right. If I were to use the abilities above, given the constraints on the spells for which they work, I'd limit them to at most two of the subclass abilities.