The Clockwork Sorcerer gave me an idea. I got an outline, but I don't have much else yet, so thought I'd get some impressions from y'all.
Let's say at the end of a long rest, the player rolls one of each die type. We'll call the value on each die the Universal Constant; that's the random number the universe prefers until the next long rest. Add something like, "for X sorcery points you can reroll one (or maybe any) of the dice." Maybe do this once, or as often as the play wants to spend SP, but only at the end of a long rest.
Then, as a reaction (or free action, I don't know), after a die is rolled you can try and move the value of that die closer to your Universal Constant, but spending SP (or maybe spell slots). For example, say you rolled a 9 on the Universal d20. Your friend is attacked and the NPC rolled a natural 20. You spend X points (of something) to bring the NPC's value as close to 9 as you can so the attack turns into a miss, or if not that, then at least not a critical attack.
The cost could be a 1 value shift for 1 point/slot. That sounds REAL expensive for SP, but I might be okay with that if it was spell slots. If not that, then maybe an X shift for 1 point based on level (so 1 for 1 SP at 1st, up to 3 for 1 SP at 18th). That sounds a little too good.
Another thing I haven't thought out is how many die can you affect at once? Could you spend X to affect a 2d6 Greatsword attack, or should you pay for each die? Or should THAT scale (1 die max at 1st level, up to 4 dice at 18th)?
That's all I have so far. Any help would be appreciated.
The subclass is a descendant of, or was merged with, a being from a plane of existence where order and precision are the law of the land. The features they gave the subclass didn't give me that feeling, so I was brainstorming one that did.
On a d20 it sounds a lot like the Portent feature which Divination wizards get. That's a 2 dice per long rest thing though and not reusable.
On other dice it starts stepping into territory affected by other things like Savage Attacker feat and the Great Weapon Fighting Style, both of which allow you to re-roll damage dice a limited number of times each turn for weapon attacks, but aren't practically capped at uses per day.
Then there's also the Clockwork Amulet from XGtE which is literally powered by the plane of Mechanus and allows you to take a 10 for a d20 attack roll once per day.
The Universal Constant... what if it is always 10, like the Clockwork Amulet? Maybe you could use this feature a number of times equal to your subclass level per long rest (or half of your subclass level, to a minimum of one)?
I know that the original intent for this was to be a sorcerer, but I feel that, deviating from the clockwork theme, a sorcerer could call upon their patron to influence a roll, granting advantage on it. Would this be too much like Bardic Inspiration?
On a d20 it sounds a lot like the Portent feature which Divination wizards get. That's a 2 dice per long rest thing though and not reusable.
On other dice it starts stepping into territory affected by other things like Savage Attacker feat and the Great Weapon Fighting Style, both of which allow you to re-roll damage dice a limited number of times each turn for weapon attacks, but aren't practically capped at uses per day.
Then there's also the Clockwork Amulet from XGtE which is literally powered by the plane of Mechanus and allows you to take a 10 for a d20 attack roll once per day.
The subclass has a version of the amulet already. That was the only ability I thought fit the theme.
I read Portent before throwing this up there. I was trying to think of an ability that felt more like the player was trying to wrench control over the universe rather than just give someone pre-rolled Advantage. Initially, I thought about just making a super version of Portent, with each "casting" costing more SP than the previous attempt.
The Universal Constant... what if it is always 10, like the Clockwork Amulet? Maybe you could use this feature a number of times equal to your subclass level per long rest (or half of your subclass level, to a minimum of one)?
I know that the original intent for this was to be a sorcerer, but I feel that, deviating from the clockwork theme, a sorcerer could call upon their patron to influence a roll, granting advantage on it. Would this be too much like Bardic Inspiration?
I thought about making the Constants just half the value of the die, but figured rolling might be more fun.
I didn't want to invoke a baseline, like the amulet, because that would always be good, and I wanted some way to impose negatives on enemies.
I guess I could reduce the idea down and say something like roll a d6, and until your next long rest you can plus/minus any die rolls by that amount for (some cost TBD), but that feels bland, and I wouldn't want to make it larger than a d6. For damage rolls, that's either too powerful (+/-6 on a Longsword is nuts), or barely worth it (+/-6 ona Fireball). On Ability Checks, a 30% swing might be crazy too.
Hiya,
The Clockwork Sorcerer gave me an idea. I got an outline, but I don't have much else yet, so thought I'd get some impressions from y'all.
Let's say at the end of a long rest, the player rolls one of each die type. We'll call the value on each die the Universal Constant; that's the random number the universe prefers until the next long rest. Add something like, "for X sorcery points you can reroll one (or maybe any) of the dice." Maybe do this once, or as often as the play wants to spend SP, but only at the end of a long rest.
Then, as a reaction (or free action, I don't know), after a die is rolled you can try and move the value of that die closer to your Universal Constant, but spending SP (or maybe spell slots). For example, say you rolled a 9 on the Universal d20. Your friend is attacked and the NPC rolled a natural 20. You spend X points (of something) to bring the NPC's value as close to 9 as you can so the attack turns into a miss, or if not that, then at least not a critical attack.
The cost could be a 1 value shift for 1 point/slot. That sounds REAL expensive for SP, but I might be okay with that if it was spell slots. If not that, then maybe an X shift for 1 point based on level (so 1 for 1 SP at 1st, up to 3 for 1 SP at 18th). That sounds a little too good.
Another thing I haven't thought out is how many die can you affect at once? Could you spend X to affect a 2d6 Greatsword attack, or should you pay for each die? Or should THAT scale (1 die max at 1st level, up to 4 dice at 18th)?
That's all I have so far. Any help would be appreciated.
Gnome Armorist - Artificer Subclass Homebrew
To what end
The subclass is a descendant of, or was merged with, a being from a plane of existence where order and precision are the law of the land. The features they gave the subclass didn't give me that feeling, so I was brainstorming one that did.
Gnome Armorist - Artificer Subclass Homebrew
On a d20 it sounds a lot like the Portent feature which Divination wizards get. That's a 2 dice per long rest thing though and not reusable.
On other dice it starts stepping into territory affected by other things like Savage Attacker feat and the Great Weapon Fighting Style, both of which allow you to re-roll damage dice a limited number of times each turn for weapon attacks, but aren't practically capped at uses per day.
Then there's also the Clockwork Amulet from XGtE which is literally powered by the plane of Mechanus and allows you to take a 10 for a d20 attack roll once per day.
Please take a look at my homebrewed Spells, Magic Items, and Subclasses. Any feedback appreciated.
The Universal Constant... what if it is always 10, like the Clockwork Amulet? Maybe you could use this feature a number of times equal to your subclass level per long rest (or half of your subclass level, to a minimum of one)?
I know that the original intent for this was to be a sorcerer, but I feel that, deviating from the clockwork theme, a sorcerer could call upon their patron to influence a roll, granting advantage on it. Would this be too much like Bardic Inspiration?
The subclass has a version of the amulet already. That was the only ability I thought fit the theme.
I read Portent before throwing this up there. I was trying to think of an ability that felt more like the player was trying to wrench control over the universe rather than just give someone pre-rolled Advantage. Initially, I thought about just making a super version of Portent, with each "casting" costing more SP than the previous attempt.
I thought about making the Constants just half the value of the die, but figured rolling might be more fun.
I didn't want to invoke a baseline, like the amulet, because that would always be good, and I wanted some way to impose negatives on enemies.
I guess I could reduce the idea down and say something like roll a d6, and until your next long rest you can plus/minus any die rolls by that amount for (some cost TBD), but that feels bland, and I wouldn't want to make it larger than a d6. For damage rolls, that's either too powerful (+/-6 on a Longsword is nuts), or barely worth it (+/-6 ona Fireball). On Ability Checks, a 30% swing might be crazy too.
Gnome Armorist - Artificer Subclass Homebrew